Common meaning:

A quality of a person, idea or thing that deserves to be praised or valued.

Hidden meaning of the Equity religion: 

A quality that is not of innate skill and hard work but completely a result of privilege.

Discussion:

Equity does not view merit as something that can be obtained through individual hard work and effort but as something that is only the result of group privilege. 

The Equityists do not consider individuals to have any reality, so it makes sense that individual effort and hard work are not considered as real factors in success. Only group reasons are allowed, so group privilege is put forward as the one and only reason that some people succeed and others do not.

What this mysterious privilege actually is, is never really defined. The Equityists just keep repeating the phrase “systemic privilege” over and over again like a magical incantation, and “poof,” people in dominant groups have success and people in minoritized groups don’t. 

In the real world, individual merit matters.