By Jan Lundius STOCKHOLM / ROME, Mar 16 2021 (IPS) – Inequality characterizes the world we live in, predisposing how we act and think. We perceive our existence as composed of dichotomies – men and women, young and old, black…
Category: Inequality
Equal pay must for a world of dignity, justice for all: UN
The United Nations is marking the first-ever International Equal Pay Day on Friday drawing attention to the gender pay gap and the systemic inequalities it is rooted in.
The digital divide widens amid global COVID-19 lockdown
By Samira Sadeque UNITED NATIONS, May 8 2020 (IPS) – The digital divide has become more pronounced than ever amid the global coronavirus lockdown, but experts are concerned that in the current circumstances this divide, where over 46 percent of…
Black Americans bearing the brunt of coronavirus recession
May 10 2020 (IPS) – As the COVID-19 pandemic worsened in April, many Americans were shocked by the extent that black Americans were being disproportionately impacted: higher infection rates, more deaths and greater job loss.
World’s 22 richest men’s wealth more than all African women
By Anna Tonelli NEW YORK, Mar 3 2020 (IPS) – This International Women’s Day, 25 years after we first heard it declared that “women’s rights are human rights” at the historic Beijing 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women, we need…
Top 10 rich people worth more than 85 poorest countries GDP
Data gathered and calculated by Learnbonds.com indicates that the world’s top ten richest people have a combined wealth more than the bottom 85 poorest countries based on GDP. According to the data, the top ten richest people have cumulative wealth…
Billionaires beware
By Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame Sundaram Sydney and Kualalumpur, Jan 7 2020 (IPS) – The latest November 2019 UBS/PwC Billionaires Report counted 2,101 billionaires globally, or 589 more than five years before. Earlier, Farhad Manjoo had seriously recommended, ‘Abolish…
Meeting you’ve never heard of — & challenge on inequality
By Ben Phillips Mexico City, Oct 9 2019 (IPS) – Last month 195 world leaders once again met in New York for big speeches and grand events. But on inequality, when all is said and done, more has been said…
Stop corruption to reduce inequality, economists urge
Dhaka, Sept 7 (UNB) – Speakers at a seminar here on Saturday laid emphasis on stopping corruption and highhandedness of the middlemen for reducing inequality in the society. Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA) arranged the seminar at the auditorium of Institution…
BD Minorities demand equal per capital allocation in budget
Dhaka, June 23 (UNB)- Bangladesh Hindu Bouddha Christian Oikya Parishad, an umbrella platform for the country’s religious minorities, on Sunday urged the government to allocate the budget equally on a per capita basis between both the majority and minority groups…
Budget to disparately increase living cost of low-income people
Dhaka, June 23 – Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD) on Sunday said the proposed measures in the budget for 2019-20 fiscal year(FY) are likely to disproportionately increase the cost of living for low- and medium- income groups compared to the…
Mixed reaction on budget from ruling alliance
Dhaka, June 14 – The leaders of Awami League-led 14-party alliance have given mixed reaction over the proposed budget for 2019-20 fiscal year. Some alliance leaders said the proposed budget will not fulfill the expectation of the mass people of…
Budget not reflects ruling party’s polls manifesto: CPD
Dhaka, June 14 – The proposed national budget has not reflected the pledges of the ruling party Awami League’s election manifesto as it would go in favour of the people who are beneficiary of economic misrule instead of the larger…
Social imbalances in the EU
by Sylvia Schmidt Despite the economic recovery of recent years, persistent social imbalances—such as those affecting women and young people—must be taken into account in the debate on Europe’s future. In the wake of the European Parliament elections, this autumn…
Big data and its enclosure of the commons
by Ekkehard Ernst Digital dystopias are overdone but inequality is rising. The answer lies in treating data as a commons and Big Data as a collective-action problem. The fear of the machine is back. Dystopian views of a world without…
Class analyst: Global income inequality
By Chris Wellisz Washington DC, May 24 2019 (IPS) – As a child growing up in Communist Yugoslavia, Branko Milanovic witnessed the protests of 1968, when students occupied the campus of the University of Belgrade and hoisted banners reading “Down…
The world made promise to women, Girls; we must fulfill them
By Monica Juma NAIROBI, Kenya, May 24 2019 (IPS) – In 1994 the International Conference and Population and Development (ICPD) was hosted in Cairo by the Government of Egypt. Twenty-five years later, Kenya is ready to convene the ICPD “Nairobi…
Authoritarianism, social inequalities a prelude to conflict
STOCKHOLM, May 17 2019 (IPS) – I want to talk about peacebuilding and inclusive peace. My main point is that peace begins in the minds of people, and people, communities, societies must be allowed to participate in peace for it to…
Child trafficking victim wins £85,000 over attempted rape
A Vietnamese boy has been awarded £85,000 in compensation from the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice after he was illegally detained at Morton Hall immigration center and sexually assaulted. Known as H, the boy had been trafficked by…
G7 must support feminist aid agenda to tackle inequality
Dhaka, May 12 (UNB) – G7 development aid must prioritise the needs of women and girls if they are to tackle poverty and economic inequality, said Oxfam on Sunday. The Group of Seven (G7) is a group consisting of Canada,…
Unequal Europe—collating the data
Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a website collating the sources of data on inequality across the European Union and exploring evidence-based policy prescriptions? Now there is. Why is human labour remunerated so differently? Do opportunities in life have…
Inequality: From redistribution to predistribution & beyond?
by Liam Kennedy Soaring income inequality inevitably raises discussion of more progressive taxation. But a more fundamental focus on the ownership of capital is needed. ‘Taxes, taxes, taxes … All the rest is bullsh*t in my opinion.’ The now much-travelled…
UN’s empty promises to world’s indigenous peoples
PHOENIX, Arizona, Apr 19 2019 (IPS) – The United Nations, as in so many other areas, gives lip service in support of Indigenous issues while lacking the political will and enforcement power over individual member states to comply with the protection…
Emissions inequality—a gulf between global rich and poor
The American congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently shook up environmental politics by releasing a broad outline of a Green New Deal—a plan to make the US a carbon-neutral economy in the next ten years, while reducing both poverty and inequality. Lauded by…
Japan’s gender gap
CHICAGO, Illinois, Mar 27 2019 (IPS) – Japan is not making progress in gender equality, at least relative to the rest of the world. Despite the Japanese government’s attempts in recent years to pass legislation promoting the economic activity of women,…
Bridging the gaps for the disabled
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 29 2019 (IPS) – People with disabilities are being left behind, and steps must be taken to ensure their inclusion in the world of education and work. Approximately 15 percent of the world’s population, or an estimated one…
‘Nothing for us, without us’
By Justus Wanzala Makuleni, Kenya, Feb 18 2019 (IPS) – Julia Mutua is a resident of Kalawa ward in the semi-arid Makueni County in Eastern Kenya and a member of a women’s farmers group that runs a poultry project. “Women…
United Nations: Global FDI flows fell by 19% last year
Geneva, 22 Jan (Kanaga Raja) – United Nations, Global FDI flows, fell by 19%. last year. In its latest Investment Trends Monitor (Issue 31 of Jan United Nations, Global FDI flows, fell by 19%. last yearly 2019), UNCTAD said the…
Brexit, Trump and ‘yellow vests’
Sixty years ago, the sociologist WG Runciman published an influential study of attitudes to ’relative deprivation’ in 20th century England. Runciman sought to explain why at crucial periods in the past century, notably after the first world war and in…
Billionaire gains grew $2.5 bn a day in 2018 – poorest lost
Billionaire fortunes increased by 12 percent last year – or $2.5 billion a day – while the 3.8 billion people who make up the poorest half of humanity saw their wealth decline by 11 percent, reveals a new report from…