<human>: Can you succinctly summarize the text in 1-3 sentences?

My friend and I have a small disagreement about the use of the word "equity."

His opinion of it is that it can be used in place of the word "fairness" or "impartiality" (e.g. To ensure equity, we should put it to a vote).

My opinion is that in equity generally refers to stock ownership and shouldn't really be used to mean anything else in everyday English.

To his credit, the word equity is predominantly defined in terms of "fairness" in the Oxford English dictionary. I'm not sure how to reconcile this with wikipedia or other dictionaries.

Extra props if you have a background in English or something to back your claim.
<bot>: What's the verdict. Can we use "equity" in place of "fairness?" Or does it refer more to stock ownership?