Equality doesn't exist yet.

The two definitions given below both suggest societal intervention in the humans struggle for "equality." One suggests that society will "level the playing field," so to speak, while the other essentially states that society renders the "outcome" of one's work equal to another's. The problem with both types of equality is that society's intervention always results in inequality. (I'm going to focus on the first one, as I don't really care for Europe and can't even pretend to know how Equality of Outcome actually works in society. )

As much as society ties to level the playing field, people will always fall through the cracks. There are simply too many people and it's too impractical to keep tabs on everyone to make sure they're granted the same opportunities. Take, for example, illegal aliens and the homeless. Is it practical, and even possible, to level the playing field for them? And would society even want to do that?And what about the homeless? They're virtually in a spiraling descent, not able to succeed because they don't have basic necessities and not able to obtain basic necessities because they aren't able to succeed.

Moreover, not all aspects of society desire that all individuals are given the same opportunities. This is the case with gays and Muslims today, women decades ago, and racial minorities before that. As human we thrive on the "other" and push them down on our way to success. Society most definitely does not want to lose its scapegoat. Take, for example, Blacks in the US. African-Americans pushed for civil rights and equality, ultimately gaining a repeal of segregation laws and obtaining a "level playing field" - or so they thought. Today, de facto segregation is stronger than de jure segregation under Jim Crow laws. While it's definitely beneficial for racist laws to be wiped clean from the law books, Blacks still don't have equality. The Civil Rights movement was less of a step forward and more of a step into a more difficult problem; and all because there are elements of American society that genuinely don't want African-Americans, for whatever reasons, to have the same playing field as the majority.