Individual sovereignty, the fact that you are responsible for your own actions, does not require an equal anything outside of being a human being that acts.
This is like saying an algorithm just needs the ability to compute & the computer it runs on or data set it's given plays no part regarding it's performance.
If worthiness of fruit is determined by the person's decision making, then in order for it to be truly fair, all persons must be offered the exact same opportunities for it to be an accurate benchmark of the person's character or will.
If you are giving some a head start, while handicapping others & your system doesn't account for this, it is no longer a useful benchmark.