{"id":152718,"date":"2020-02-03T12:00:36","date_gmt":"2020-02-03T12:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=152718"},"modified":"2020-01-30T10:24:30","modified_gmt":"2020-01-30T10:24:30","slug":"worlds-22-richest-men-wealthier-than-all-the-women-in-africa-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2020\/02\/worlds-22-richest-men-wealthier-than-all-the-women-in-africa-study-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"World’s 22 Richest Men Wealthier Than All the Women in Africa, Study Finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Startling scale of inequality laid bare as Oxfam report highlights chronically undervalued nature of care work.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A teenager in Malawi hauls a bucket of water before school. Women in poor countries spend hours carrying water home from distant sources.
Photograph: Helen H Richardson\/Denver Post via Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n

20 Jan 2020 – <\/em>The world\u2019s 22 richest men<\/a> have more combined wealth than all 325 million women in Africa, according to a study.<\/p>\n

Women and girls across the globe contribute an estimated \u00a38.28tn ($10.8tn) to the global economy with a total of 12.5bn hours a day of unpaid care work, a figure more than three times the worth of the global tech industry, claims an Oxfam report published on Monday ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The charity says women around the world, especially those living in poverty, do more than three-quarters of all unpaid care work, which is chronically undervalued and taken for granted by businesses and governments alike.<\/p>\n

Ageing populations, cuts in public spending, and the climate crisis will exacerbate gender and economic inequality, the report warns.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen 22 men have more wealth than all the women in Africa<\/a> combined, it\u2019s clear that our economy is just plain sexist,\u201d said Oxfam GB\u2019s chief executive, Danny Sriskandarajah.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf world leaders meeting this week are serious about reducing poverty and inequality, they urgently need to invest in care and other public services that make life easier for those with care responsibilities, and tackle the discrimination holding back women and girls.\u201d<\/p>\n

In spite of increasing awareness about the wealth divide, most world leaders continue to pursue policy agendas that benefit the rich and hurt the poor, the report claims, pointing to tax cuts for billionaires promoted by US President Donald Trump and Brazil\u2019s leader Jair Bolsonaro.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Jeff Bezos, centre, is the world\u2019s richest man, ahead of Bill Gates (left) and Warren Buffet.
Composite: Ludovic Marin\/ AFP via Getty Images; Anadolu Agency via Getty Images; Paul Morigi\/Wireimage<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThe richer should be paying their fair share of tax, not dodging their tax or avoiding paying it,\u201d said Katy Chakrabortty from Oxfam GB.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting the richest 1% to pay just 0.5% tax on their wealth \u2013 just on their wealth, not their income \u2013 would create enough money over the next 10 years to pay for 117m jobs, in education, health and elderly care.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we really value care, then we need to be helping to shoulder the responsibilities so that women and girls can find the time to get an education or pursue their own, better remunerated activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

An estimated 2.3 billion people will be in need of care by 2030, an increase of 200 million from 2015, said the report. But governments are increasing taxation on the poorest, cutting public spending and privatising education and health, according to Oxfam.<\/p>\n

The climate crisis will mean an estimated 2.4bn people living with water shortages in the next five years, and already women and girls are disproportionately affected, having to walk further to find water.<\/p>\n

Solutions lie in governments thinking beyond profit and investing in water, sanitation, electricity, child and healthcare to improve quality of life and free up hours of work a day, according to Oxfam.<\/p>\n

\u201cFeminists used to say women held up half the world \u2013 well now it\u2019s the majority of women holding up a very small group of men on very high precipices,\u201d said Beverley Skeggs, a professor of sociology at the University of Lancaster.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis report challenges us to think differently. What if we plan our economy based on the fundamental social premise of caring for others?\u201d<\/p>\n

_______________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kate Hodal writes about women, slavery and politics and was the <\/em>Guardian’s south-east Asia correspondent.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 theguardian.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

20 Jan 2020 – The world\u2019s 22 richest men have more combined wealth than all 325 million women in Africa. Startling scale of inequality laid bare as Oxfam report highlights chronically undervalued nature of care work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":152719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[237,232,610,1213],"class_list":["post-152718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-capitalism","tag-africa","tag-capitalism","tag-inequality","tag-super-rich"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}