“Equality” Vs. “Equity” Twitter Debate Occurs After A Motoring Organization Revealed That They Don’t Prioritize Lone Women Over Men
It’s a fact that our society continues to deal with multiple issues regarding the equality and comfortability of the people. Nowadays, we’re strenuously trying our best to fix what’s been broken for what seems like an eternity, but changing the viewpoint of thousands or even millions of people requires hard work and effort.
For women, it’s been a rocky road, at the very least. Constantly proving our significance and fighting for equal opportunities, but instead getting laughed at in our faces and men pulling the “well, you wanted equality” card, when the only laughable thing is their understanding of equity.
A thought-provoking incident occurred with a woman from Bristol, UK, when she had to call a company due to her car breaking down in the middle of the night. The original tweet received nearly 4K likes and a fiery discussion where folks shared their opinions regarding the situation.
More info: Twitter
People are questioning this company’s reply regarding a car breakdown
Image credits: Andrew Bone
The story divided the people into two camps, where folks attempted to understand which side of the conflict was more reasonable. Some agreed with the company, as they didn’t seem to do anything wrong – others supported the OP in every way.
This motoring organization refused to prioritize a lone woman and blamed it on equality
Image credits: _HelenMott_
A woman decided to use Twitter to share her nighttime encounter with AA, a British motoring association. The OP expressed that she was displeased with the way the company handled her situation, as once she called to report the issue, the call handler let her know that they don’t prioritize lone women as everyone is equal.
Image credits: _HelenMott_
Image credits: _HelenMott_
Image credits: _HelenMott_
The OP was highly disappointed to hear such things, as she believes that refusing to prioritise lone female drivers is not a sign of equality. She revealed that waiting for over an hour, god-knows-where, especially during the night is far scarier for a woman than for a man.
In the end, someone from the AA managed to successfully sort the woman’s problem out and get her home completely safe. However, this event provoked some customers into questioning whether they want to contribute to a company that follows such values.
Image credits: _HelenMott_
Image credits: TheAA_UK
Image credits: TheAA_UK
The AA ended up replying to the woman’s concerns reassuring her that, yes, they don’t prioritize based on gender—however, they do take into consideration the locations and the risks of the situations. The company also mentioned that they haven’t messed with their vulnerable customer policies and that essentially they prioritize everyone who is in danger.
Image credits: AAPresident
Image credits: TheAA_UK
Image credits: RichardJGarside
The head of AA also didn’t miss his chance to reply to the woman’s thread. Edmund King quoted one of the laws that stated how it’s illegal for anyone who’s providing services or goods to discriminate. He followed it up by confirming the AA’s previous tweet and promised the OP and their other customers that they assess the situations and help everyone in a timely fashion.
Image credits: amfast
Image credits: deborahmsamuel
Image credits: TheAA_UK
Unarguably, women continue to be the number one targets for all kinds of assaults and our fear is very reasonable. Therefore, it’s understandable why the AA’s customers are disappointed with them mentioning equality when the initial issue arose due to a woman feeling unsafe. And since they advocate for helping those who are at risk, why did their response feel rather bitter?
What do you think about this situation? Do you think that the OP might’ve overreacted or maybe that both parties worded their concerns/responses in a misleading manner?
Fellow online users had a wide array of opinions
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12Kviews
Share on FacebookThe point the AA are trying to make is a completely valid one. She is not automatically top priority because she is a woman, but that does not mean she will not be top priority as it's based on risk and call outs at that time. If it's a choice between a woman who breaks down alone in the middle of nowhere, a family who's car won't start while they were visiting a relative, and a man who broke down outside his work, she would be top priority as she is the most at risk. Equally, if she has broken down 5 minutes walk from home, and a man is stranded on the side of the motorway, he should be the priority. It's about looking at individual circumstances at the time, rather than a tick box to say who gets priority.
Did people miss the party where the company explained it was illegal to prioritize based on sex, it did I misunderstand something? They were trying to give everyone the magic words, if the person mentions reasons to be concerned for their safety. The lady has no idea who was being prioritized over her. A guy with a serious medical condition or something stabbed in the middle of nowhere should take priority over a healthy woman somewhere relatively safe. Not saying those were the circumstances, just a reason they can't automatically prioritize a woman as higher risk.
Exactly. Towing companies don't know the complete situation until the tow truck driver gets there. Not everyone thinks of telling the towing company an emergency situation because they likely have already called someone else. They could have a small child they need to take home. A small kid will always take precedence in the queue. This woman wasn't even in any danger at the end of the day. She was just thinking of the what-ifs. I know dark highways are creepy af, you're imagination can run wild. I used to come along with my now-ex in his tow truck. Came across all types of people. Men were just as relieved to see help as women. It's a dangerous job and tow truck drivers are just as likely, if not more, to be attacked on site. It's a bit of a false security to think your safe when they're there. Often their backs are turned, busy doing their job. When he would get the stolen recoveries one of the cops would always stay to watch over the tow truck driver in case a suspect is nearby.
Load More Replies...This *is* equality. It is not equity. Too many people ask for equality when what they want is equity.
Equity is based on the principle of leveling the playing field. That means considering variables beyond belonging to the same species. A form of triage, so to speak. Treating everyone the same is not the same as being fair.
Load More Replies...You shouldn't discriminate based on gender, you SHOULD discriminate based on safety risks. A man with carrying his infant child in a car that broke down would deserve priority over a man alone, right? You prioritize based on a risk assessment, not because of bobs an vagene.
"Discrimination" based on safety risks isn't discrimination, but rather logic. This woman sounds a lot like, "I want to always come first when I call. And to ensure I do, I'm going to try and make it sound like I mean something other than I'm being selfish".
Load More Replies...I'm smelling a mountain of BS being made out of a molehill. Just like the emergency services, the AA will prioritorise your call based upon your circumstances. If you are in a vulnerable position, and they are made aware of this, they should try to reach you as quickly as they can. The problem is that having switched over to all callouts to be made from their app, not all information about circumstances is necessarily captured. An elderly person stuck out in the cold with no means of staying warm is obviously a priority regardless of gender. Another issue to consider is that people will lie in order to raise the priority of their call. What the AA needs is here is a new social media person who sets the rules straight. They do not decide priority based on gender (as that would be illegal), but they do prioritorise vulnerable customers. And then another click-bate social media story would have vanished from the internet!
Another issue to consider is that people will lie in order to raise the priority of their call Happens all the time, and you can't blame the responders, because they assume, (wrongly) that the caller is in genuine need of help
Load More Replies...I initially assumed that "AA" meant "Alcoholics Anonymous", and several seconds of glorious confusion followed.
Same here. I imagined a beer truck pulling alongside with the driver holding a six-pack out the window. Some would consider that a rescue indeed.
Load More Replies...Squawks about equality. Gets it. Then Squawks about not being prioritised as a female. Reading the original post she didn’t tell them where she was stranded made her feel unsafe. The prioritised her when she called back and gave them that info which she should have given the company in the first place. I hate cherry-picking
It's a cluster to be sure in today's age who is vulnerable. Is a cis woman in more danger than a trans woman. Is a cis man less vulnerable what if he has Asperger's. You can't base vulnerability as a metric. You need to look at this as a per case basis. Yeah you got Karen's male and female that will lie to get preferred service but honestly I don't see that many people being an jerk to cause problems besides if they falsly prioritize themselves note the account so that way it will have the calling wolf effect
I may have the unpopular opinion here (nothing new lol), but as a single female, I've gone on late night walks in various types of neighbourhoods, alone, and not felt unsafe as long as I'm being aware of my surroundings and looking like I know where I'm going. But I think that's common sense for anyone, regardless. It's not like men haven't been attacked at night. My boyfriend was jumped on News Years walking home alone by a couple of guys pretending to ask for a cig. Women do tend to have the upper leg. When reporting a missing person there's more urgency for a missing woman than a missing man, as if men are considered "able to handle themselves". My question would be to this lady, if she feels that vulnerable and scared to be out, alone, at night, and feels there's that high of a risk of something happening to her, why doesn't she have someone come along with her? Nothing wrong with doing that if safety is that much of a concern, instead of putting onus on a service company.
She didn't have someone along with her because she wasn't expecting her car to break down.
Load More Replies...Wake up people. Alone man on side of the road with car with broke down is as much in risk as woman, none higher none lower. Anything different is simply wrong, just because anyone thinking of doing something bad will decide to do it, when they see car. When you stay sitting inside you're not only in danger by getting crashed into, but also they can see you, but you can't see them. It's the person you don't see who will attack you.
Oh boy does anyone actually read the details before they post, the priority in service has to do with the nature of the breakdown, so if a guy is stuck in a vehicle thats leaking gas, should he be ignored because a woman is stuck on a dark highway at 3am? Really this is one of the dumbest things ever posted and why does every woman think that they are in danger every second of every day? Paranoid much?
"Everyone Counts or nobody Counts. I got that from a book series about a White Male Homicide Detective. This woman doesnt deserve special treatment
People want the chicken, the egg, the croissant, the lobster and the meat-loaf.
this is an example of equity. It is a concept of giving everyone what they need to thrive. in this case, women are more at risk than men, and therefore, to be equitable, they would need to get to the lone women before the lone men, as the men typically have an advantage in height and strength.
But you don't know the situation of the men. Maybe they have a medical need or they have a baby/kids with them. My ex is a tow truck driver and he always considered situations with babies and kids, and the elderly/disabled, as #1 priority. Not all men are built equally as big, strong, hulking tree trunks of power.
Load More Replies...Feelings are subjective so whilst I might feel scared waiting for them to arrive a friend who is also female might not. Also can a man not feel scared broken down on an unlit road? Does the fear of a woman out weigh the fear of a man? It is equality to treat all customers male or female the same and then use other factors such as location, health, age etc to decide on the urgency of a response. Ie, they could have rushed out to her but further down the road there could be an elderly male diabetic (for example) who suffers serious medical issues associated with the wait for help
During the enquiry into the sinking of the Titanic, this same debate raged about "women and children first" going into the lifeboats, mainly because of the suffragettes claiming equal treatment with men during that time. The argument went that the women without children should also have volunteered to stay on the boat and let men with children be saved. It was labelled the "equality over equity" debate then too...
They should prioritize risk. Applying equality in the way they are is walking a fine line. Example pregnant women, elderly women, elderly men who are alone (should come before lone woman, btw), etc. They should come up with some kind of risk evaluation. Treating all customers “equally” in this matter can be dangerous.
Some companies do. Some tow truck drivers ask for additional questions to assess what call to go to first.
Load More Replies...Maybe the AA should carry out a small survey with whomever ever calls needing help. "Where have you broken down". . "Are you alone?". . . "Do you know kung-fu?" /s
This has some of the transgenders-and-bathrooms "discussion"... you can blow it up as much as you want and claim it's a real daily ongoing concern. But outside of 70s slasher thrillers, there's no statistically significantly higher risk. Yes more worry. Disagree? Then show the numbers.
Equality does NOT mean everyone gets treated the same, it DOES mean everyone should have an equal chance of the same good outcome. Is there some reason the collective consciousness is keeping it's head up its a**e and willfully failing to understand this?!!
Equality means everyone is given the same resource. Equity means the person with more needs is given more resources. Equality means you give your toddler and your teenager the same amount of food. Equity means you give them each the amount of food they need in order to function well.
Load More Replies...Made me smile. “Several of them would have protested if they could have found the right arguments.”
Load More Replies...Saying that by simply being a woman is a risk factor would be internalized misogyny, no?
Except women do it to themselves, why do we have to market ourselves as a race of victims?
Load More Replies...When lone men start having to worry about getting raped, then we'll talk, jackasses
What makes you think it doesn't happen? Regards you don't think grievous physical assault and injury counts? That only sexual assault is a serious problem and a priority?
Load More Replies...I don’t understand a single sentence of this comment.
Load More Replies...It broke down (unexpected and often unforeseen), I didn't read anything about running out of gas unless there was more on teh original reddit thread?
Load More Replies...Dumb ass, Conservatives dont give a F**K about any one of your gender or any other vulnerable person. Everyone counts or nobody counts. Not ONE conservative is going to help the poor and they DO blame them for being poor, numpty. COMMUNISM is the one that makes everyone the same.
Load More Replies...The point the AA are trying to make is a completely valid one. She is not automatically top priority because she is a woman, but that does not mean she will not be top priority as it's based on risk and call outs at that time. If it's a choice between a woman who breaks down alone in the middle of nowhere, a family who's car won't start while they were visiting a relative, and a man who broke down outside his work, she would be top priority as she is the most at risk. Equally, if she has broken down 5 minutes walk from home, and a man is stranded on the side of the motorway, he should be the priority. It's about looking at individual circumstances at the time, rather than a tick box to say who gets priority.
Did people miss the party where the company explained it was illegal to prioritize based on sex, it did I misunderstand something? They were trying to give everyone the magic words, if the person mentions reasons to be concerned for their safety. The lady has no idea who was being prioritized over her. A guy with a serious medical condition or something stabbed in the middle of nowhere should take priority over a healthy woman somewhere relatively safe. Not saying those were the circumstances, just a reason they can't automatically prioritize a woman as higher risk.
Exactly. Towing companies don't know the complete situation until the tow truck driver gets there. Not everyone thinks of telling the towing company an emergency situation because they likely have already called someone else. They could have a small child they need to take home. A small kid will always take precedence in the queue. This woman wasn't even in any danger at the end of the day. She was just thinking of the what-ifs. I know dark highways are creepy af, you're imagination can run wild. I used to come along with my now-ex in his tow truck. Came across all types of people. Men were just as relieved to see help as women. It's a dangerous job and tow truck drivers are just as likely, if not more, to be attacked on site. It's a bit of a false security to think your safe when they're there. Often their backs are turned, busy doing their job. When he would get the stolen recoveries one of the cops would always stay to watch over the tow truck driver in case a suspect is nearby.
Load More Replies...This *is* equality. It is not equity. Too many people ask for equality when what they want is equity.
Equity is based on the principle of leveling the playing field. That means considering variables beyond belonging to the same species. A form of triage, so to speak. Treating everyone the same is not the same as being fair.
Load More Replies...You shouldn't discriminate based on gender, you SHOULD discriminate based on safety risks. A man with carrying his infant child in a car that broke down would deserve priority over a man alone, right? You prioritize based on a risk assessment, not because of bobs an vagene.
"Discrimination" based on safety risks isn't discrimination, but rather logic. This woman sounds a lot like, "I want to always come first when I call. And to ensure I do, I'm going to try and make it sound like I mean something other than I'm being selfish".
Load More Replies...I'm smelling a mountain of BS being made out of a molehill. Just like the emergency services, the AA will prioritorise your call based upon your circumstances. If you are in a vulnerable position, and they are made aware of this, they should try to reach you as quickly as they can. The problem is that having switched over to all callouts to be made from their app, not all information about circumstances is necessarily captured. An elderly person stuck out in the cold with no means of staying warm is obviously a priority regardless of gender. Another issue to consider is that people will lie in order to raise the priority of their call. What the AA needs is here is a new social media person who sets the rules straight. They do not decide priority based on gender (as that would be illegal), but they do prioritorise vulnerable customers. And then another click-bate social media story would have vanished from the internet!
Another issue to consider is that people will lie in order to raise the priority of their call Happens all the time, and you can't blame the responders, because they assume, (wrongly) that the caller is in genuine need of help
Load More Replies...I initially assumed that "AA" meant "Alcoholics Anonymous", and several seconds of glorious confusion followed.
Same here. I imagined a beer truck pulling alongside with the driver holding a six-pack out the window. Some would consider that a rescue indeed.
Load More Replies...Squawks about equality. Gets it. Then Squawks about not being prioritised as a female. Reading the original post she didn’t tell them where she was stranded made her feel unsafe. The prioritised her when she called back and gave them that info which she should have given the company in the first place. I hate cherry-picking
It's a cluster to be sure in today's age who is vulnerable. Is a cis woman in more danger than a trans woman. Is a cis man less vulnerable what if he has Asperger's. You can't base vulnerability as a metric. You need to look at this as a per case basis. Yeah you got Karen's male and female that will lie to get preferred service but honestly I don't see that many people being an jerk to cause problems besides if they falsly prioritize themselves note the account so that way it will have the calling wolf effect
I may have the unpopular opinion here (nothing new lol), but as a single female, I've gone on late night walks in various types of neighbourhoods, alone, and not felt unsafe as long as I'm being aware of my surroundings and looking like I know where I'm going. But I think that's common sense for anyone, regardless. It's not like men haven't been attacked at night. My boyfriend was jumped on News Years walking home alone by a couple of guys pretending to ask for a cig. Women do tend to have the upper leg. When reporting a missing person there's more urgency for a missing woman than a missing man, as if men are considered "able to handle themselves". My question would be to this lady, if she feels that vulnerable and scared to be out, alone, at night, and feels there's that high of a risk of something happening to her, why doesn't she have someone come along with her? Nothing wrong with doing that if safety is that much of a concern, instead of putting onus on a service company.
She didn't have someone along with her because she wasn't expecting her car to break down.
Load More Replies...Wake up people. Alone man on side of the road with car with broke down is as much in risk as woman, none higher none lower. Anything different is simply wrong, just because anyone thinking of doing something bad will decide to do it, when they see car. When you stay sitting inside you're not only in danger by getting crashed into, but also they can see you, but you can't see them. It's the person you don't see who will attack you.
Oh boy does anyone actually read the details before they post, the priority in service has to do with the nature of the breakdown, so if a guy is stuck in a vehicle thats leaking gas, should he be ignored because a woman is stuck on a dark highway at 3am? Really this is one of the dumbest things ever posted and why does every woman think that they are in danger every second of every day? Paranoid much?
"Everyone Counts or nobody Counts. I got that from a book series about a White Male Homicide Detective. This woman doesnt deserve special treatment
People want the chicken, the egg, the croissant, the lobster and the meat-loaf.
this is an example of equity. It is a concept of giving everyone what they need to thrive. in this case, women are more at risk than men, and therefore, to be equitable, they would need to get to the lone women before the lone men, as the men typically have an advantage in height and strength.
But you don't know the situation of the men. Maybe they have a medical need or they have a baby/kids with them. My ex is a tow truck driver and he always considered situations with babies and kids, and the elderly/disabled, as #1 priority. Not all men are built equally as big, strong, hulking tree trunks of power.
Load More Replies...Feelings are subjective so whilst I might feel scared waiting for them to arrive a friend who is also female might not. Also can a man not feel scared broken down on an unlit road? Does the fear of a woman out weigh the fear of a man? It is equality to treat all customers male or female the same and then use other factors such as location, health, age etc to decide on the urgency of a response. Ie, they could have rushed out to her but further down the road there could be an elderly male diabetic (for example) who suffers serious medical issues associated with the wait for help
During the enquiry into the sinking of the Titanic, this same debate raged about "women and children first" going into the lifeboats, mainly because of the suffragettes claiming equal treatment with men during that time. The argument went that the women without children should also have volunteered to stay on the boat and let men with children be saved. It was labelled the "equality over equity" debate then too...
They should prioritize risk. Applying equality in the way they are is walking a fine line. Example pregnant women, elderly women, elderly men who are alone (should come before lone woman, btw), etc. They should come up with some kind of risk evaluation. Treating all customers “equally” in this matter can be dangerous.
Some companies do. Some tow truck drivers ask for additional questions to assess what call to go to first.
Load More Replies...Maybe the AA should carry out a small survey with whomever ever calls needing help. "Where have you broken down". . "Are you alone?". . . "Do you know kung-fu?" /s
This has some of the transgenders-and-bathrooms "discussion"... you can blow it up as much as you want and claim it's a real daily ongoing concern. But outside of 70s slasher thrillers, there's no statistically significantly higher risk. Yes more worry. Disagree? Then show the numbers.
Equality does NOT mean everyone gets treated the same, it DOES mean everyone should have an equal chance of the same good outcome. Is there some reason the collective consciousness is keeping it's head up its a**e and willfully failing to understand this?!!
Equality means everyone is given the same resource. Equity means the person with more needs is given more resources. Equality means you give your toddler and your teenager the same amount of food. Equity means you give them each the amount of food they need in order to function well.
Load More Replies...Made me smile. “Several of them would have protested if they could have found the right arguments.”
Load More Replies...Saying that by simply being a woman is a risk factor would be internalized misogyny, no?
Except women do it to themselves, why do we have to market ourselves as a race of victims?
Load More Replies...When lone men start having to worry about getting raped, then we'll talk, jackasses
What makes you think it doesn't happen? Regards you don't think grievous physical assault and injury counts? That only sexual assault is a serious problem and a priority?
Load More Replies...I don’t understand a single sentence of this comment.
Load More Replies...It broke down (unexpected and often unforeseen), I didn't read anything about running out of gas unless there was more on teh original reddit thread?
Load More Replies...Dumb ass, Conservatives dont give a F**K about any one of your gender or any other vulnerable person. Everyone counts or nobody counts. Not ONE conservative is going to help the poor and they DO blame them for being poor, numpty. COMMUNISM is the one that makes everyone the same.
Load More Replies...
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