Equality of rules does not guarantee equality of starting points.

Applying the same rules to everyone says nothing about whether they arrived at the same place. One person begins with savings, stable housing, an education paid for, and a network of people who answer the phone. Another begins with none of it. The rules being identical from that point forward does not make the race fair; it makes it consistent.

When you hear that a process was fair because everyone faced the same requirements, ask what people needed in order to meet them. Where you have any say, look at whether the requirements are measuring capability or measuring what someone was given. The two are much easier to confuse than they should be.