Comparing Complex Inequalities in a Global Context

Sylvia WalbyUNESCO Chair in Gender Research

Lancaster University

Introduction

• Contested approaches to equality• Contested concepts of fairness and progress• Broadening the concept of equality• Measuring changes in inequality and progress,

implications of:– Globalisation and varieties of modernity– Gender and class

Contested approaches to equality• Multiple complex inequalities:

– Class, gender, ethnicity, disability age, religion, sexual orientation – Intersecting: mutually constitutive or mutually adapting (Crenshaw, McCall)– Difference and diversity– Sameness/difference/transformation (Fraser, Rees, Scott)

• Legitimacy of arenas for equality/equal treatment– Negotiation; trade unions; NGOs; state, law; equality commissions– EU: Treaties (Rome, Amsterdam), Directives– Equal treatment in employment, sale of goods and services– Mainstreaming: duty on public bodies to promote equality– EU: Gender gaps in employment, pay

• Dimensions of equality– Economic: employment, wages, income (individual, household), wealth, education (Hills)– Longevity (UNDP) (infant, maternal mortality: MDG)– Depth of democracy: suffrage, presence, range

Frameworks of fairness and progress

• “Progress”: competing projects• Equality

– In itself; for other outcomes (Wilkinson , Picket)– Equal treatment (legal)

• Human rights – Universal (UN); minimal thresholds

• Economic development/growth – Income per person (most governments)

• Human development – Longevity, education, income (Sen)

• UNDP, MDG (UN, World Bank, OECD)– Capabilities (Sen)

• GEO measurement framework (Vizard, Burchardt)

Globalization and inequalities• Multiple global processes

– Globalization challenge to ‘nation-state = society’– World not fully global– Societalisation as a process

• Increase in inequality?– Some regions not others?– Some inequalities not others?

• Are class, gender and ethnic relations changing in the same or different ways?

• Units for analysis?– Tension between use of ‘global’ and ‘country’ as units of analysis

for study of inequality

Varieties of modernity: neoliberal to social democratic

• Global regions– Global North: neoliberalism to social democracy

• Continuum (Kenworthy > Esping-Andersen)– More e.g. China state capitalist

• In all regimes of inequality: gender regime as well as class• Key distinction: Inequality and democratic governance• Economy

– Regulation of finance and employment; state welfare• Polity

– Depth of democracy: suffrage, presence, range of institutions• Violence

– Regulation of violence against women and minorities; minimal deployment in war• Civil society

– Mutualism or commercialisation

Neoliberalism and social democracy

• Key differences between neoliberalism and social democracy:– Depth of democracy: governance through democracy rather than

by capital or the market– Extent of inequality

• Neoliberalism and social democracy are:– not confined to class relations, but extend to gender relations and

other regimes of inequality– Not confined to the domain of the economy, but extend to polity,

violence and civil society as well

Comparing changes in equality and progress: concepts and measurement• Longevity and income• Economic development/growth• Measuring economic inequality

– implications of globalization and households• Knowledge economy• Financial crisis, global regions and gender• Non-economic inequalities

– Democracy– violence

Longevity and income: 1975-2005World USA EU UK

Life: 1975 61.7 72.6 72.3 72.7

Life : 2005 67.6 77.7 79.7 79.0

% increase 9.6 7.0 10.2 8.7

Income$: 1975 4867 19830 14359 15506

Income$: 2005 8477 37436 26037 28628

% increase 74 89 81 85

Longevity and income: Comparing USA and EU 1975-2005

• US citizens are richer than in EU– US: $37436; EU:$26037

• (2005, PPP, $constant2000,EMU) (World Bank)

• US citizens die sooner than in EU– US: 77.7; EU 79.7

• (2005, EMU) (World Bank)

• USA – More growth in income: 89%– Smaller increase in longevity: 7.0% (5.1 years)

• EU– Less but still significant growth in income - 81%– Larger increase in longevity: 10.2% (7.4 years)

• US less effective than EU in turning income into life– Neoliberalism less efficient than social democracy

‘Global’ economic inequalities: Which unit: country or world?

• Is global inequality going up or down?• What unit? (Milanovic)

– inequalities in each country, summed, OR– world as a whole

• Each country, summed– Inequality within many countries is increasing (Korzeniewicz and

Moran)• World

– Inequalities between countries are greater than inequalities within countries (Korzeniewicz)

– Fast economic growth in China (and India) is reducing overall global economic inequality (Firebaugh)

• In transition, from country to world as key unit

Which unit to measure economic inequality: Household or individual?

• Most comparative work on global economic inequalities uses household as unit of analysis– Most shows increase in class inequality within

countries• Household as unit makes economic gender

inequalities invisible– False assumption of equal sharing in household– Changes in gender inequality invisible

Cchanges using Gini and household as unit, OECD

Mid-1980s 2000

Australia 31.2 30.5Austria 23.6 25.2Canada 28.7 30.1Denmark 22.8 22.5

Finland 20.7 26.1France 27.6 27.3Greece 33.6 34.5Ireland 33.1 30.4Italy 30.6 34.7Japan 27.8 31.4Luxembourg 24.7 26.1

Class changes using Gini and household as unit, OECD

Mid-1980s 2000

Mexico 45.1 48.0Netherlands 23.4 25.1New Zealand 27.0 33.7Norway 13.4 26.1Spain 36.7 32.9Sweden 19.9 24.3Turkey 43.5 43.9UK 28.6 32.6US 33.8 36.1OECD average 29.3 30.9

Female employment rate 1997, 2007, EUEU (27 countries) 51.4 58.3

Belgium 46.5 55.3

Denmark 69.1 73.2

Germany 55.3 64.0

Ireland 45.9 60.6

Greece 39.3 47.9

Spain 34.6 54.7

France 52.4 60.0

Italy 36.4 46.6

Luxembourg 45.3 55.0

Hungary 45.4 50.9

Netherlands 58.0 69.6

Austria 58.6 64.4

Poland 51.3 50.6

Portugal 56.5 61.9

Romania 59.1 52.8

Slovenia 58.0 62.6

Finland 60.3 68.5

Sweden 67.2 71.8

United Kingdom 63.1 65.5

Gender pay gap, 1996, 2006, EUEU (27 countries) 17 15

Belgium 10 7

Denmark 15 17

Germany 21 22

Ireland 21 9

Greece 15 9

Spain 14 13

France 13 11

Italy 8 9

Luxembourg 19 14

Hungary 23 11

Netherlands 23 18

Austria 20 20

Portugal 6 9

Romania 24 10

Slovenia 15 8

Finland 17 20

Sweden 17 16

United Kingdom 24 21

Divergent class and gender inequalities

• Changes in class focused and gender focused inequalities are changing in opposite directions

• Gender system and class system do not map onto each other, – but intersect and mutually adapt

Gender and the unit of measurement of inequality

• Household• Individual

– Gender employment gap (EU)• Same standard? Transformation?• How is domestic care work positioned? Equal valuation

of different contributions?• Significance varies by global region and form of gender

regime– Gender pay gap (EU)

• Same standard?

Knowledge economy

• What is the knowledge economy?• Gendered definitions

– High tech manufacturing: • largely male

– ICT/IT: • largely male

– Knowledge intensive services• Education, health, financial services• Gender balance, slightly more women

• Gendered implications of policy

Gender and the financial crisis

• Which gender is hurt most in different global regions?• First wave of job losses

– North– Southern regions

• Second wave of job losses– North– Southern regions

• Depends on regionally specific occupational and industrial gender segregation

Depth of Democracy

Social democracy deeper democracy than neoliberalism1. No hereditary or unelected positions2. no colonies 3. no non-democratic polities, e.g. organised religion;4. universal suffrage, de facto as well as de jure; 5. Elections: and whether free, fair, competitive elections; free speech,

association 6. low cost of electioneering7. electoral system with proportional representation;8. quotas for under-represented groups 9. proportionate parliamentary presence: e.g. women10. range of institutions governed by democratic polity

Violence

• Violence as fourth institutional domain alongside economy, polity and civil society

• Constitutive as well as outcome of inequalities• Is violence an inequality in itself as well?• Clustering of inter-personal and inter-state

violence• Correlation of violence with inequality

Variations in violenceUSA EU UK

Homicide rate per 100,000 5.56 1.59 1.61

Death penalty Yes No No

Prison population per 100,000

689 87 129

Military % government expenditure

19.3 4.6 6.3

Military expenditure % GDP 4.1 1.7 2.6

Correlation between different forms of violence, OECD

Homicide Prisoners Death penalty

Military % govt spend

Military % GDP

Prisoners .851**

Death penalty .454** .589**

Military % govt spend

.681** .629** .787**

Military % GDP .658** .614** .332 .786**

Law/order % GDP .671** .660** .037 .121 .551*

Conclusions • Concept and measurement of equality

– Include more domains than income and employment• Longevity, depth of democracy, violence• When longevity used to compare countries, EU>USA.• Variations in violence matter

– Globalization• If global the unit then inequality decreasing; if summation of countries,

then inequality increasing

• Class and gender inequalities not changing in the same direction

• Emergence of new gendered political constituencies

• Inequality: core concept for social science and public policy