equal

E-commerce firms seek clarity on equalisation levy

They also suggested that the levy should not be imposed on services or goods that are executed online but delivered offline – for instance, online hotel bookings, air ticketing and even heavily regulated financial services – besides seeking a clear definition of what comprises online sale of goods, services and the digital or electronic platform.




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Century Old Fight For Equality Continues

While schools are closed, we're creating a series of "Talk of Iowa" episodes that will be fun and educational for learners of all ages. Every Tuesday, we'll learn about Iowa wildlife, and every Thursday, we'll learn about Iowa history. The nation is celebrating the 100 th anniversary of the 19 th Amendment to the Constitution. This amendment gave women the right to vote. During this episode of Talk of Iowa , political scientist Karen Kedrowski explains how the 19 th Amendment was the culmination of a long battle for women’s suffrage, but it wasn’t the end of the fight for equal rights for women.




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Inflection Point: Is college really a path to gender equality?

Nancy Niemi, Director of Faculty Teaching Initiatives at Yale questions the conventional wisdom that college is a path to gender equality.




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Political Rewind: Fault Lines Of Unequal Access Revealed

Wednesday on Political Rewind , the pandemic reveals fault lines of unequal access in our society. Health care and community leaders are highlighting a disproportionate impact of the public health crisis on black and African American communities. We look at the contributing factors in Georgia and across the country.




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Episode 0x20: Gender Inequality in Software Freedom Community

Bradley and Karen discuss issues of gender inequality in the software freedom community and technology generally.

Show Notes:

Segment 0 (00:38)


Send feedback and comments on the cast to <oggcast@faif.us>. You can keep in touch with Free as in Freedom on our IRC channel, #faif on irc.freenode.net, and by following Conservancy on on Twitter and and FaiF on Twitter.

Free as in Freedom is produced by Dan Lynch of danlynch.org. Theme music written and performed by Mike Tarantino with Charlie Paxson on drums.

The content of this audcast, and the accompanying show notes and music are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike 4.0 license (CC BY-SA 4.0).




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CBS reimagines ‘Equalizer’ and ‘The Silence of the Lambs’


NEW YORK (AP) — Queen Latifah, Rebecca Breeds and Thomas Middleditch are set to star in three new CBS shows for the 2020-21 season as the network adds a reimagined “Equalizer,” a show based on “The Silence of the Lambs” and a comedy about organ donation. Queen Latifah steps into the role of a retired […]




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Women’s soccer players ask for equal pay appeal, trial delay


American women’s soccer players want to delay a trial until after an appellate court reviews last week’s decision to throw out their claim of unequal pay while allowing allegations of discriminatory work conditions to move forward. Lawyers for the women filed a motion Friday night asking U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner in Los Angeles […]




equal

'We're not doing enough': Doctor urges equal health care for the most vulnerable

Co-founder of Partners in Health Dr. Paul Farmer says the COVID-19 pandemic offers many lessons and opportunities for the world, including a chance to reorient how we think about who deserves access to a high standard of health care.




equal

Coronavirus, war, and the new inequality

If coronavirus is like a war, what else can erupt under the fog of war? And, we will take you to one of the most densely packed places in the world where the Christian aid group World Vision is trying to coral the virus. Also, Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz looks at one of the casualties of the COVID-19 outbreak - the deepening inequality within and between nations.




equal

This is how a record cricket crowd can play a critical role in gender equality

Last night's T20 women's cricket match was more than just a game — its impact on gender equality in sport will reverberate for years to come, writes Kate O'Halloran.




equal

Pencil towers and issues around urban inequality and density

Critics say that the proliferation of modern, wafer-thin skyscrapers are symbols of rising urban inequality. Also: Are levels of density in our cities making us ill? And what's the impact of short-term letting on urban affordability? 




equal

Premier Daniel Andrews says the new laws will boost equality in Victoria

The Victorian Parliament will debate a bill which would allow people to change their gender on their birth certificate without needing to undergo surgery.




equal

Victorian teachers offered $50,000 to relocate to regions to tackle rural inequality

Teachers will be offered up to $50,000 to relocate from Melbourne to rural and regional schools desperate for qualified teachers, as part of a new Victorian Government plan to tackle flagging results.




equal

Bogut boom time puts financial heat on smaller NBL clubs, amid calls for equal playing field

The NBL grapples with the challenge of keeping an equal playing field between the haves and the 'have-lots', as professional basketball undergoes a lucrative renaissance in Australia.




equal

Does U.S. women&#39;s soccer deserve equal pay?

Has the U.S. women's soccer team done enough to warrant salaries that match their male counterparts? The 360 gives you all the angles on heavily-debated topics in the news.





equal

USWNT's equal pay case dismissed, judge rules in favor of U.S. Soccer




equal

Joe Biden pledges support for USWNT after setback in equal pay dispute




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Meghan Cary To Celebrate Women’s Equality Day With Free Download Of "River Rock"

The Prolific Singer-Songwriter Says The Song Is “For All The Women Who Boldly And Bravely Speak Their Truth”




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CBS Orders New Dramas "Clarice," "The Equalizer" and New Comedy "B Positive" to Series for the 2020-2021 Broadcast Season

Additional new series for the 2020-2021 season will be announced at a later date.




equal

Disability Equality Scotland

Michael McEwan speaks to Ian Buchanan about Disability Equality Scotland, focusing more specifically on Disability Access Panels.

As the umbrella body for Access Panels in Scotland, Disability Equality Scotland offers support and training opportunities to help Access Panels operate efficiently, link together as a network and learn from each other.

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes




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#255: Equality FTW!

It's been seven years since we talked about the HPA like this! Learn about how the organization has been changing the world!

It's NOT about those dang tweets, not yet! We will be back soon for those. Right now we are doing a LONG OWED update with the HP Alliance! It's been seven years since we talked about the HPA like this! Seven years! Learn about how the organization has been changing the world, how fans are becoming heroes, and how you can help!

We also talk about Emma Watson at the UN, the future of the Leaky Cauldron and PotterCast...and more! Special host Paul DeGeorge joins in, and we hear from several more members of the HPA!

 

Episode 255 — Equality FTW!

Find the latest episode and explore PotterCast interviews, discussions and more at PotterCast.com

Visit the-leaky-cauldron.org for the latest and greatest from Harry Potter's Wizard World.




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Social Inequality, Medical Fears, and Pandemics

Who’s afraid of a global pandemic? We all are, at the moment. But like so many other forms of fear, concern about medical issues is much more acute for people in precarious and vulnerable social positions. The privileged—particularly those who are white and upper class—can more afford not to be preoccupied with health and medical […]




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U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team Equal Pay Claim Dismissed by Federal Judge

A federal judge dealt a significant blow to the U.S. Women’s national team’s fight for equality on Friday. While the U.S. women’s team’s claim of unequal working conditions can go forward, a federal judge rejected the player’s claims of pay inequality. In March 2019, the USWNT filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation. The suit alleges the U.S. Soccer Federation’s has federally discriminatory payment practices, arguing that they pay women less than men “for substantially equal work and by denying them at least equal playing, training, and travel conditions; equal promotion of their games; equal support and development for their games; and other terms and conditions of employment equal to the MNT.” Judge R. Gary Klausner wrote in his decision that USWNT members did not prove wage discrimination under the Equal Pay Act because the women’s team played more games and made more money than the men’s team. Furthermore, the women’s team also rejected a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) where they would have an identical pay structure to the men’s team in favor of a different CBA. This CBA guarantees players are compensated regardless of whether they play, while the men’s CBA does not. “This approach — merely comparing […]




equal

Poor people experience greater financial hardship in areas where income inequality is greatest

Study shows how a lack of community support caused by inequality exacerbates cycles of poverty




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Inequality and the Safety Net Throughout the Income Distribution, 1929-1940 -- by James J. Feigenbaum, Price V. Fishback, Keoka Grayson

We explored two measures of inequality that described the full income distribution in cities. One measure is an income gini based on family incomes in 1929 for 33 cities and in 1933 for up to 48 cities in 1933 were spread throughout the country. We also estimated gini coefficients that made use of contract rents for renters and implicit rents for home owners for up to 955 cities throughout the country. We were able to expand to all counties when looking at a top-end inequality measure, the number of taxpayers per family. All three measures varied substantially across the country. We show the correlations between the various measures and also estimate the relationship between the measures and various relief programs developed by governments at all levels during the period.




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Changes in Black-White Inequality: Evidence from the Boll Weevil -- by Karen Clay, Ethan J. Schmick, Werner Troesken

This paper investigates the effect of a large negative agricultural shock, the boll weevil, on black-white inequality in the first half of the twentieth century. To do this we use complete count census data to generate a linked sample of fathers and their sons. We find that the boll weevil induced enormous labor market and social disruption as more than half of black and white fathers moved to other counties following the arrival of the weevil. The shock impacted black and white sons differently. We compare sons whose fathers initially resided in the same county and find that white sons born after the boll weevil had similar wages and schooling outcomes to white sons born prior to its arrival. In contrast, black sons born after the boll weevil had significantly higher wages and years of schooling, narrowing the black-white wage and schooling gaps. This decrease appears to have been driven by relative improvements in early life conditions and access to schooling both for sons of black fathers that migrated out of the South and sons of black fathers that stayed in the South.




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Carmen Valdez: This era is not the ‘great equalizer.’ But it is the time for great change.




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Inequality of Fear and Self-Quarantine: Is There a Trade-off between GDP and Public Health? -- by Sangmin Aum, Sang Yoon (Tim) Lee, Yongseok Shin

We construct a quantitative model of an economy hit by an epidemic. People differ by age and skill, and choose occupations and whether to commute to work or work from home, to maximize their income and minimize their fear of infection. Occupations differ by wage, infection risk, and the productivity loss when working from home. By setting the model parameters to replicate the progression of COVID-19 in South Korea and the United Kingdom, we obtain three key results. First, government-imposed lock-downs may not present a clear trade-off between GDP and public health, as commonly believed, even though its immediate effect is to reduce GDP and infections by forcing people to work from home. A premature lifting of the lock-down raises GDP temporarily, but infections rise over the next months to a level at which many people choose to work from home, where they are less productive, driven by the fear of infection. A longer lock-down eventually mitigates the GDP loss as well as flattens the infection curve. Second, if the UK had adopted South Korean policies, its GDP loss and infections would have been substantially smaller both in the short and the long run. This is not because Korea implemented policies sooner, but because aggressive testing and tracking more effectively reduce infections and disrupt the economy less than a blanket lock-down. Finally, low-skill workers and self-employed lose the most from the epidemic and also from the government policies. However, the policy of issuing “visas” to those who have antibodies will disproportionately benefit the low-skilled, by relieving them of the fear of infection and also by allowing them to get back to work.




equal

US Women's team file to appeal equal pay ruling

The US Women's soccer team have filed to appeal a district court decision handed down last week that dismissed their claims for equal pay.




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Column: Coronavirus is the great unequalizer

A pandemic, one would think, is indiscriminate, targeting rich and poor alike. But the coronavirus is making inequality worse.




equal

Queen Latifah to star in ‘Equalizer’ reboot with Chris Noth

Queen Latifah will star in a CBS reboot of the 1980s drama series "The Equalizer."




equal

U.S. women’s soccer players ask for equal pay appeal, trial delay

Players sued in March 2018 under the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and they asked for more than $66 million in damages.




equal

Rita Walters, a fierce advocate for equality and trailblazing elected official, dies at 89

Rita Walters advocated fiercely for equality through school integration and hiring practices, first as a member of the L.A. school board and then on the L.A. City Council




equal

Letters to the Editor: Wealth inequality is on display for all to see during the coronavirus crisis

In one article, wealthy private schools get government aid. In another, desperate citizens beg for funds online.




equal

Review: Income inequality? 'Capital in the Twenty-First Century' says the system needs fixing

Filmmaker Justin Pemberton turns French economist Thomas Piketty's 2013 manifesto on inequality, "Capital in the Twenty-First Century," into an engaging documentary.




equal

Inequality in the US; the top 0.1% gaining even more than top 1%

In the US the protest movement is symbolically against the top 1%. Income data from the US Congressional Budget Office, however, shows that it isn’t just the top 1% benefiting far more than the rest of American society, but the top 0.1% in particular.

High levels of inequality is generally believed to affect social cohesion. Some findings suggest that once nations are industrialized, more equal societies almost always do better in terms of health, well-being and social cohesion and that large income inequalities within societies destroys the social fabric and quality of life for everyone.

This update to the poverty page adds a section on inequality in the US, as well as adding some additional information about research showing globally some 147 multinational companies having core global influence and power.

Read full article: Poverty Around the World




equal

Inverness 2 - Celtic 2: Fisher's late equaliser ends Hoops' perfect start



INVERNESS Caley Thistle brought Celtic’s perfect Premiership start to a shuddering halt with a last-gasp leveller in the Highland capital.




equal

Insider: Butler has a closer in Kamar Baldwin, and that is the March equalizer that opponents lack

Senior caps 36-point night with winning 3-pointer

      




equal

US Women's football team appeal against equal pay bid dismissal

The US women's football team file an appeal against a court's decision to dismiss their bid for equal pay.




equal

Meeting the Promise of the 2010 Constitution: Devolution, Gender and Equality in Kenya

Research Event

12 May 2020 - 1:00pm to 2:00pm
Add to Calendar
Natasha Kimani, Academy Associate, Chatham House; Head of Partnerships and Programmes, Shujaaz Inc.
Chair: Tighisti Amare, Assistant Director, Africa Programme, Chatham House
While gender equality was enshrined in Kenyan law under the 2010 constitution, gender-based marginalization remains a significant issue across all levels of society. The advent of devolution in 2013 raised hopes of enhanced gender awareness in policymaking and budgeting, with the 47 newly instituted county governments expected to tackle the dynamics of inequality close to home, but implementation has so far failed to match this initial promise. As Kenya approaches the tenth anniversary of the constitution, and with the COVID-19 pandemic throwing the challenges of gender inequality into sharper relief, it is critical to ensure that constitutional pathways are followed with the requisite level of urgency, commitment and investment to address entrenched gender issues.
 
This event, which will launch the report, Meeting the Promise of the 2010 Constitution: Devolution, Gender and Equality in Kenya, will assess the current status of efforts to devolve and adopt gender-responsive budgeting and decision-making in Kenya, and the priorities and potential future avenues to tackle the implementation gap.
 
This event will be held on the record.

To express your interest in attending, please follow this link. You will receive a Zoom confirmation email should your registration be successful.

Hanna Desta

Programme Assistant, Africa Programme




equal

The Road to Gender Equality: Achievements and Challenges in China

Invitation Only Research Event

23 May 2016 - 1:00pm to 3:00pm

Beijing, China

Following 21 years since the adoption of the Beijing declaration by 189 states, China has the opportunity to lead the way in prioritizing gender-inclusive growth policies on the G20 agenda, as it is hosting the G20 this year.

This roundtable will examine specific challenges in China, a country with a high heterogeneity in the labour force and among its population. The event will bring together representatives of government, business and civil society to continue the dialogue that Chatham House started one year ago in Beijing. Taking stock of the progress achieved so far, the participants will analyse what type of recommendations can have a positive impact in both rural and high- density populated areas.

Attendance at this event is by invitation only.

The Chatham House Rule 

To enable as open a debate as possible, this event will be held under the Chatham House Rule. 

Event attributes

Chatham House Rule

Michele Bazzano

Research Assistant, International Economics
+44 (0)20 7314 3684




equal

'The Truth is, Chile is Unequal': What's Behind Chile's Protests

18 December 2019

Dr Christopher Sabatini

Senior Research Fellow for Latin America, US and the Americas Programme

Lyndsey Jefferson

Digital Editor, Communications and Publishing Department
As part of a series on global protests, Dr Christopher Sabatini tells Lyndsey Jefferson why Chileans are taking to the streets.

GettyImages-1177498531.jpg

A demonstrator waves a Chilean flag during a protest in Santiago on 21 October 2019. Photo: Getty Images.

Why are these protests happening now?

The truth is, Chile is unequal, even though it actually reduced poverty from 1989, the time of the democratic transition, until today, from 40% to 16%.

There are a number of reasons for the protests. One is the most proximate cause, which is the increase in the subway fares, but that really doesn’t explain the underlying tensions.

One of those tensions is despite reductions in poverty, social mobility remains a large problem in Chile. It remains a very elitist country with limited social mobility. So, poverty may be reduced, but the likelihood that someone in the working middle class would reach the upper middle class has always been a stretch.

The second issue is a lack of political change. The last four presidents were the same two people.

Chile’s been governed, with the exception of Piñera, basically by the same political coalition, La Concertación, which is a combination of the Christian Democratic and Socialist parties. Piñera came from the right, an outside party, but even he has remained. There has been no renewal of the political leadership which again reinforces that lack of social mobility. 

Do the protesters have any other demands or grievances? 

The demands are amorphous and that’s part of the issue – they’re going to be difficult to meet. People are expressing a genuine desire for change but what would that change mean?

Chileans don’t necessarily want to change the economic model; they simply want more mobility. That’s difficult to do and these are untested demands. 

Chileans also want political reform. What Piñera offered is to rewrite the constitution, which was created under military government in 1980. Other than some changes here and there in terms of the electoral system and reduction of military power, it has pretty much remained intact.

Will constitutional change really address these demands? It’s simply a document that may create the rules for how power is allocated and conducted, but it’s not going to dramatically remake Chilean society.

You mentioned inequality as a key driver of the protests. Can you expand a bit more on the current economic situation of ordinary Chileans?

Chile is going to grow at only around 2-3%, but it was growing at around 4-5% earlier. A lot of those funds were ploughed into social programmes that have since been reduced. 

Chile’s economy really boomed in the early 2000s because of Chinese demands of Chilean imports. But as with any sort of commodities-based economy, the jobs it provides tend to be lower wage.

As a result, despite the fact that Chile tried to diversify its economy by investing in entrepreneurship and innovation, it hasn’t grown in a way that provides jobs that many associate with upward mobility. As Chile's economy cooled, its ability to lift people out of poverty lagged as well.

Demonstrators hold placards depicting eyes – in reference to police pellets hitting demonstrators' eyes – during a protest in Santiago on 10 December 2019. Photo: Getty Images.

Two major issues for the protesters are education and pensions – can you explain why this is?

These are two issues of the economic and social model that was held up at one time as being a model for the region, the neoliberal models that are really coming under question and are in some ways at the heart of this.

One is the privatized pension system which is failing to produce the returns that retirees need to survive. The second is the education system. Chile created a voucher system where parents can shop around and send their kids to the best schools. The idea was to create competition among schools to improve.

The problem was like any market, it created a certain amount of inequality among schools. There was a problem of some schools underperforming and being relegated poorer performing students, or students being forced to go to those schools because the more successful schools were already spoken for. 

At the end of October, the government announced a series of social reforms. Will this be enough to satisfy the protesters’ demands?

Social reforms may address some of the issues of insufficient pensions or lack of quality education, but it will take a while for them to have an effect.

The second thing is, social reforms don’t address the issues of power. At the heart of this is this idea of closed economic, political and social power. That comes about through economic growth and how you break up concentrations of wealth. Social reforms aren’t going to do that, although they’ll help on the margins. 

We’re seeing horrific scenes of police violence against protesters and dozens of people have died. Has this deterred the protesters in any way? 

No, in many ways it has sort of inspired them. It has, I think, sustained the protests.

We’re not talking massive repression and tanks rolling in like Tiananmen Square. We’re talking about tear gas, rubber bullets, some injuries and deaths, and even credible reports of torture.

It’s funny you should mention this – a class I’m teaching today is about social media and protests. One of the central arguments is that successful social protests need a martyr; they need a rallying cry.

The deaths and the repression sort of help sustain that, but moreover, social media helps communicate what’s happening through videos and pictures. It really helps maintain this sense of righteousness, disdain for the government, and this idea of the need to demand change.

Where do you see this going next?

I don’t think we know. In the 60s and 70s, the political scientist Samuel Huntington argued in Political Order in Changing Societies that as economies grow, political institutions often strain to contain and channel demands. I think we’re seeing this now.

This social ferment over political, economic and social demands is uncharted water. I don’t know where this will go, but I think we’ll see a change in the constitution. We’ve already seen a fragmenting of the party system, which I think will continue. Hopefully, that will lead to new leadership that can help reflect a change in Chile itself. 




equal

Meeting the Promise of the 2010 Constitution: Devolution, Gender and Equality in Kenya

Research Event

12 May 2020 - 1:00pm to 2:00pm
Add to Calendar
Natasha Kimani, Academy Associate, Chatham House; Head of Partnerships and Programmes, Shujaaz Inc.
Chair: Tighisti Amare, Assistant Director, Africa Programme, Chatham House
While gender equality was enshrined in Kenyan law under the 2010 constitution, gender-based marginalization remains a significant issue across all levels of society. The advent of devolution in 2013 raised hopes of enhanced gender awareness in policymaking and budgeting, with the 47 newly instituted county governments expected to tackle the dynamics of inequality close to home, but implementation has so far failed to match this initial promise. As Kenya approaches the tenth anniversary of the constitution, and with the COVID-19 pandemic throwing the challenges of gender inequality into sharper relief, it is critical to ensure that constitutional pathways are followed with the requisite level of urgency, commitment and investment to address entrenched gender issues.
 
This event, which will launch the report, Meeting the Promise of the 2010 Constitution: Devolution, Gender and Equality in Kenya, will assess the current status of efforts to devolve and adopt gender-responsive budgeting and decision-making in Kenya, and the priorities and potential future avenues to tackle the implementation gap.
 
This event will be held on the record.

To express your interest in attending, please follow this link. You will receive a Zoom confirmation email should your registration be successful.

Hanna Desta

Programme Assistant, Africa Programme




equal

COVID-19 in South Africa: Leadership, Resilience and Inequality

7 May 2020

Christopher Vandome

Research Fellow, Africa Programme
In a world looking for leadership, South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa has been remarkable. One year after he carried the time-worn ANC through a national election, South Africans are crying out for more.

2020-05-07-Ramaphosa-COVID-South-Africa

Cyril Ramaphosa at NASREC Expo Centre in Johannesburg where facilities are in place to treat coronavirus patients. Photo by JEROME DELAY/POOL/AFP via Getty Images.

In the COVID-19 crisis so far, Cyril Ramaphosa has been widely praised for displaying the decisive leadership so many hoped for when they cast their ballot for him in May 2019. Buttressed by others such as health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize, and on a simple objective to prevent transmission, South Africa has been a lesson to the world. Act fast. Act hard.

Former president Thabo Mbeki’s disastrous response to the HIV crisis cast a long shadow over his legacy, and Ramaphosa has taken note. South Africa has had one of the tightest lockdowns in the world. No exercise. No cigarettes. No alcohol.

The lockdown was imposed when the country had only around 1,000 recorded cases and just two deaths. As a result, transmission from returning travellers has not yet led to an exponential infection rate within the community. The government’s swift reaction has bought much needed time with the peak now seemingly delayed to September or October.

Continental and national leadership

Ramaphosa has also emerged as a key focal point for Africa-wide responses. As current chair of the African Union (AU) he leads the continental engagement with the World Health Organization (WHO), and the various international finance institutions, while South African officials are working with the AU and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) on a push for African debt restructuring.

He has also been active in trouble shooting to unlock external assistance to the continent, including from China and Russia. Appointing special envoys is typical of his boardroom-honed leadership style.

International and regional partnerships are vital for resilience and the arrival of 217 Cuban doctors to South Africa is strongly reminiscent of the liberationist solidarity of the Cold War era. And regional economies remain dependent on South Africa to protect their own vulnerable citizens. Following the 2008 financial crisis, it was South Africa’s regional trading relationships that remained robust, while trade with its main global partners in China and the US dropped.

Despite the plaudits, Ramaphosa remains vulnerable to challenge at home, notably around his failure to stimulate South Africa’s moribund economy. On the eve of lockdown, Moody’s joined its peers Standard and Poor’s and Fitch in giving South Africa a below investment grade credit rating. The move was a long time coming. Long mooted economic reforms were slow to materialise, and South Africa had fallen into recession.

Ramaphosa depends on a small core of close advisors and allies, initially united in apparent opposition to the kleptocratic rule of President Jacob Zuma and the deep patronage networks he created within both the party and the state. But this allegiance is being tested by economic reality. Support within the party was already drifting prior to the crisis.

Disagreements are not just technocratic – there are big ideological questions in play around the role of the state in the economy, the level of intervention, and its affordability, with key government figures sceptical of rapid market reforms. Energy minister and former union stalwart Gwede Mantashe is wary of job losses, and minister of public enterprises Pravin Gordhan protective of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Before coronavirus hit, Ramaphosa seemed content to allow these policy disputes to play themselves out with little decisive intervention.

Slow progress on reform, against worsening economic performance, left Ramaphosa and his allies exposed. In January the president missed the UK’s African Investment Summit in order to assert control over a party meeting at which it was expected his detractors would seek to remove Gordhan.

COVID-19 has sharpened thinking

As the independently assertive - and eminently quotable - pro-market reformist finance minister Tito Mboweni stated, ‘you can’t eat ideology’. Accelerated reform and restructuring is required if the government turns to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for assistance.

For the first time, Gordhan has been forced to deny a bailout to beleaguered state airline South African Airways (SAA), and the government’s lockdown bailout of R300 billion has been applauded by business. Much like the fiscal stimulus and recovery plan of 2018, it relies on smart spending, targeting sectors with high multiplier effects. It also includes significant reserve bank loans.

But it has been criticised for not doing enough to help the most vulnerable. There is considerable fear of what could happen when the virus takes hold in South Africa’s townships and informal settlements where social distancing is almost impossible, basic toilet facilities are shared, and HIV and TB rates high.

There are mounting concerns of the humanitarian cost of a prolonged lockdown, and the government has been faster than others in implementing a tiered lockdown system, trying to get people back to work and keep the economy afloat.

South Africa has been criticized by the UN for the use of lethal force by security forces in enforcing lockdown and, in a society plagued by corruption, there are fears legislation to stop the spread of false information could be used to restrict legitimate reporting on the virus response or other issues.

COVID-19 shines a spotlight on societies’ fault-lines worldwide. South Africa is often touted as having one of the highest levels of inequality in the world but, in a globalized economy, these divisions are international as much as they are local.

Resilience comes from within, but also depends on regional and global trading and financial systems. South Africans and international partners have long recognised Ramaphosa’s leadership qualities as an impressive voice for the global south.

But he must also be an advocate for South Africa’s poor. This crisis could accelerate implementation of his landmark pro-poor National Health Insurance and Universal Health Care programmes. Or the hit of COVID-19 on top of South Africa’s existing economic woes could see them derailed entirely. Ramaphosa must push through economic reforms at the same time as managing COVID-19 and rebuilding trust in his government.




equal

Equality by 2030: The Press for Progress




equal

Gender Inequality: Making Technology the Solution, Not the Problem




equal

Human Rights Priorities: An Agenda for Equality and Social Justice




equal

CBD News: Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities: Progress for All - Message from Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, on the occasion of International Women's Day 2010.




equal

CBD News: This year, International Women's Day highlights the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action that twenty years' after its adoption remains an essential roadmap for the achievement of gender equality and women's rights.




equal

CBD News: The theme for this year's International Women's Day, "Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step it up for Gender Equality", is well-aligned with the ambitious Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, which integrates gender equality and women