Globalisation Driving Inequality

Haider Rizvi reports on one of the primary consequences of neoliberalism, growing inequality:

Despite unprecedented economic growth in recent years, the rich have become richer and the poor even poorer, says a new U.N. report that also shows women facing more hardship than men in all walks of life.

The report, titled "The World Social Situation: The Inequality Predicament," was issued Thursday just three weeks ahead of a major world summit called by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to address the pressing issues of global poverty, hunger, disease and illiteracy.

Sounding the alarm over "persistent and deepening" inequality, the authors focus on the chasm between the formal and informal economies, the widening gap between skilled and unskilled workers, the growing disparities in health and education, and opportunities for social, economic and political participation.

The world is more polarised today than it was 10 years ago, says the report, which calls for a deeper commitment to keeping the pledges made by world leaders at the Summit for Social Development held in the Danish capital of Copenhagen in 1995. At that meeting, they promised to confront profound social challenges and place people at the centre of development

Eh, but inequality ain't important, right?