Can fairness be achieved in reality?
Before discussing the issues around fairness, let me tease out its meaning. The Oxford Dictionary defines it as ‘impartial and just treatment or behaviour without favouritism or discrimination’. The definition seems straightforward, which is about not being impartial in treating others. If ‘fairness’ is searched on Google, it will provide more than 315m hits in less than a second. The websites include meaning, definition, examples, blogs and companies that work for fairness. Additionally, the Cambridge Dictionary categorizes ‘fairness’ as a Band-5 English word. That means ‘fairness’ is repeated 1-10 times in every one million words used. What that means is—there is no shortage of knowledge about fairness.
Despite being a common word, the understanding of fairness is diverse and differs from person to person, time to time and community to community. Let me give three examples and show a diverse understanding of fairness. In 1974, we had a puja (a religious event) in our house. Upon completing the puja, my father gave tika and money to some, just tika to some and nothing to the rest. My brothers and I got the tika but not the money. All my sisters got both tika and money.
I witnessed the second case in 1992. In a family, both husband and wife used to work for a commercial bank. They used to share the transport while going to the office and coming home. Other than during office hours, the husband used to read newspapers, watch TV, call friends and relatives, meet people and attend club meetings. The wife did have a different schedule that included cooking food, cleaning the house, washing clothes, shopping for groceries and preparing their children for school. I thought it was unfair to the wife. One day, I approached her and asked how she felt about the work she was doing at home. Interestingly, she never thought about the unfairness in daily life. She said, “I treat my husband as god. How can I ask him to do the dishes? This is my duty and little service to him.”
The third case links to a community school I saw in 1996. I visited a primary school in Palpa district, where I spent a day with a teacher and students. The primary school had three classes (Year 1, Year 2 and Year 3). Due to the low number of students, one teacher had to teach all students. While passing through the school, I saw wide age-ranging students sitting in one classroom. I learned that the youngest in the class was five years old, and the eldest was 13. Was it fair for students to study in the same class despite the expectations of developing skills and knowledge of different levels? Didn't those students deserve a better education?
The analysis of the above three examples provides multiple facets of fairness. The first one demonstrates the diverse understanding of fairness between father and son. Even though the difference seemed individual, deep-rooted culture and rituals played a vital role. The puja incident hurt me badly. It was unfair treatment to me and my brothers. Why couldn’t we get money? Even though I did not know the actual value of money, I knew its importance in getting sweets. I cried for money, which I believe was the cry for fair treatment. My requests were not heard, my tears ignored, and my questions overlooked. I was discriminated against sisters. The second case is an example of ignorance of fairness. Since the actions are accepted as a duty or the best act of a human being, fairness-related issues are not realized and raised. The third case is very broad in the sense of fairness. Many people may not even realize how people were treated differently.
Given the complexity of the understanding, the meaning of fairness is relatively straightforward for those who often miss the criticality in evaluating their thoughts and ideas when making decisions and distributing resources. Only those people who realize unfair treatment may better understand the importance of fairness. From a fairness perspective, people could be divided into three broad categories—some always get the benefits and feel it is deserved, some are always treated unfairly and believe that is what they have earned, and the rest do not understand the difference or do not care about fairness. Even though fairness lies in every action and decision, deep-rooted thoughts and ignorance cover unfair incidents. As a result, people do not pay much attention to fairness.
My sticking point regarding fairness was the unfair treatment in puja. The incident was one of thousands happening in the village every day. Even after three decades, I do not think these examples have become uncommon and outdated. If you have not gone through any of the unfair situations, you might be a privileged person. That means your position may have blocked the vision for differentiating fairness from unfairness.
The issues can be viewed from three broad perspectives–moral, social and legal. I took a moral view and expected equal treatment from my father. I expected my father to be impartial while making decisions and distributing resources. But my father took a social approach while treating me and my sisters differently. The government took a legal perspective in making the decisions for teacher allocations, maintaining the student-teacher ratio in the country. From the students’ point of view, their birth was random to the place, which should not have been penalized by deputing fewer teachers.
Fairness becomes more complex when happiness and profit are involved. For example, during an ultralight flight over Pokhara about a year ago, I marveled at the breathtaking views of land, rivers, lakes and vibrant communities–Pokhara is a canvas made of nature and hands! That is what I felt on landing. While I enjoyed the experience, the company earned profit. In return, the local residents had to cope with noise and polluted air. Is it fair for them?
Whilst considering everyday actions and decisions, can anyone be fair in all situations? Perhaps the obvious answer is no. What will happen if society lacks fairness? How far can a society go with favoured decisions and partial resource allocations? If these questions point toward a dark future, this is the time to think and act for a fairer and wiser society.
The author is the subject lead for Business Management (UG) at De Montfort University, Leicester and holds a PhD in the performance of small and medium enterprises
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