In the twelve months since the first lockdowns in the Global North, there has been a measurable rise in inequality in almost every country in the world, with preliminary studies indicating that unless urgent action is taken, the crisis will lead to a lasting, and even greater, economic divide. In 2020, the virus may have pushed an additional 200 to 500 million people below the $5.50 a day poverty line, while it took just nine months for the fortunes of the 1,000 richest people on Earth to return to their pre-pandemic highs.
This discussion brought together an international panel of practitioners, scholars and policy-makers to discuss a new Oxfam briefing paper, The Inequality Virus: Bringing together a world torn apart by coronavirus through a fair, just and sustainable economy. The report draws on a survey of 295 economists from 79 countries, and supports the troubling view that the global spread of coronavirus has exposed, fed off and increased inequalities of wealth and income, gender and race.
In a world in which the super-rich take private jets to Dubai to jump the vaccination queue and health workers die waiting to get an injection, and asset managers continue to earn 1,400 times more than nurses, what hope is there to “build back better”? Our panelists considered the intersecting inequalities that have led some of us to be much worse affected by the pandemic than others, and examine systemic problems and potential solutions.
This event was part of the LSE Festival: Shaping the Post-COVID World, running from Monday 1 to Saturday 6 March 2021, with a series of events exploring the direction the world could and should be taking after the crisis and how social science research can shape it.
Panelist
Tracy Jooste
Tracy Jooste is an Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity, and a public policy practitioner, researcher, and social impact lead. She has successfully championed fairer access to housing, water, sanitation, and healthcare for low-income households in South Africa, with a focus on women and youth. She has also led gender-responsive budgeting programs for the last few years and currently supports gender justice initiatives in the Global South.
Panelist
Pablo Andres Rivero Morales
Pablo Andres Rivero Morales (@payorivero) is Policy and Narratives Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) regional lead, Oxfam, and co-author of The Inequality Virus. He is a lecturer in digital communication at San Pablo Catholic University in La Paz, Bolivia. As a campaigning and political communication specialist, his focus is on narratives, digital influencing and audiences, and how transdisciplinary research and collaboration can contribute to social and political changes. He has designed and supported campaigns and influencing processes led by Oxfam offices, social movements and political parties across Latin America and the Caribbean.
Panelist
Julie Seghers
Julie Seghers (@JulieSeghers) is a Senior Advocacy Advisor at Oxfam, a role she has held for five years. She is responsible for Oxfam’s advocacy work with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), with a focus on aid and development finance. She was previously an analyst working on issues of aid effectiveness at the OECD Development Co-operation Directorate. Prior to that, she worked at AFD (Agence Française de Développement), initially as a project officer in the Local Authorities and Urban Development Division, then as project manager for social sectors at the Antananarivo agency. She was Oxfam’s commissioning manager for The Inequality Virus.
Panelist
Mwanahamisi Singano
Mwanahamisi (Mishy) Singano (@msalimu) is an African feminist and Head of Programmes at African Women's Development and Communication Network (FEMNET). She has extensive experience in socio-economic programming, policy advocacy and development campaigns. For over ten years she led and engaged in promoting, advancing and protecting the rights of women in their diversities. In that quest, she has worked on combating climate change, violence against women, inequality, and promoting financial inclusion, women’s empowerment, land rights, farmers’, and food rights in Africa and beyond. She is also a writer and passionate advocate for justice.
Chair
Professor Armine Ishkanian
Armine Ishkanian is the Executive Director of the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity programme and Professor in the Department of Social Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her research examines the relationship between civil society, democracy, development, and social transformation.
Banner Image: Photo by Oxfam
