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172. Not in This Together: How supermarkets became pandemic winners while women workers are losing out
- Author:
- Anouk Franck and Art Prapha
- Publication Date:
- 06-2021
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Inequality is worsening and exploitation of women is endemic across the global economy. While inequality of power and value was already deeply unfair before the pandemic, it has now reached shocking proportions. COVID-19 has cost global workers $3.7 trillion in lost income, and women and young workers have been hardest hit, as they are often found in the most insecure and lowest-paid jobs. Few places reveal this trend more clearly than supermarket supply chains. In stark contrast to the escalating human misery brought by the pandemic, the supermarket sector has largely been the standout winner of the crisis. Senior executives, the largest institutional investors, and mostly wealthy shareholders of global supermarkets continue to be rewarded with business-as-usual high compensation and dividends. In fact, during the pandemic, publicly listed supermarkets distributed 98% of net profits to their shareholders via dividends and share buybacks. Meanwhile, workers and producers, especially women, across the globe – the people we call ‘essential’ or ‘frontline’ workers – have seen their incomes stagnate or even fall, while their rights continue to be violated.
- Topic:
- Inequality, Pandemic, COVID-19, Labor Rights, and Gender
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
173. An African Response to COVID-19: From principled first response to just recovery
- Author:
- Ray Deepayan Basu
- Publication Date:
- 04-2021
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- In November 2020 Oxfam and SOAS facilitated an online high-level event to bring together African and international policy and public-health professionals to discuss their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, and offer insights into strategies and policies they have enacted in their respective contexts. Speakers tackled a wide range of issues, including government strategies and policies implemented, public health messaging and community engagement, varying threads of intersectionality and an honest discussion about gaps and additional support. This ‘outcomes’ paper draws out the key themes, trends and recommendations emerging from the discussions to inform a people-not-profit-centric Covid response.
- Topic:
- Public Health, Pandemic, Community, and COVID-19
- Political Geography:
- Africa
174. The Inequality Virus: Bringing together a world torn apart by coronavirus through a fair, just and sustainable economy
- Author:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Publication Date:
- 01-2021
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- The coronavirus pandemic has the potential to lead to an increase in inequality in almost every country at once, the first time this has happened since records began. The virus has exposed, fed off and increased existing inequalities of wealth, gender and race. Over two million people have died, and hundreds of millions of people are being forced into poverty while many of the richest – individuals and corporations – are thriving. Billionaire fortunes returned to their pre-pandemic highs in just nine months, while recovery for the world’s poorest people could take over a decade. The crisis has exposed our collective frailty and the inability of our deeply unequal economy to work for all. Yet it has also shown us the vital importance of government action to protect our health and livelihoods. Transformative policies that seemed unthinkable before the crisis have suddenly been shown to be possible. There can be no return to where we were before. Instead, citizens and governments must act on the urgency to create a more equal and sustainable world.
- Topic:
- Governance, Inequality, Pandemic, and COVID-19
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
175. The World Bank in Asia: An assessment of COVID-19-related investments through a care lens. Care-responsive investments and development finance
- Author:
- Bist Joshi and Dharmistha Chauhan
- Publication Date:
- 12-2021
- Content Type:
- Research Paper
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- International financial institutions (IFIs) have been playing a vital role in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and will play an equally important role in the recovery and ‘build back anew’ agenda. This is particularly true of the World Bank Group (WBG), given its high volumes of committed investments across sectors, especially in low-income and vulnerable countries. This report presents, through case studies, how care-responsive the World Bank’s COVID-19-related investments have been in four member countries: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Nepal and the Philippines. It does so by using the Care Principles and Care-Responsiveness Barometer for IFIs to assess the nature of the WBG’s COVID-19 investments in these select countries, and by building evidence through a gender- and care-responsive budget review. The report demonstrates that the Bank has a foundation for care-inclusion upon which to build, and urges it to adopt a more comprehensive care-responsive approach to its operations in order to move towards rebuilding a more gender-just and equal future.
- Topic:
- World Bank, Finance, Investment, Pandemic, and COVID-19
- Political Geography:
- Asia
176. Coronavirus Relief Fund: Review of Federal Fiscal Assistance and of Innovative County Response Strategies
- Author:
- Richard Callahan, Lisa Gordon, and Christopher Morrill
- Publication Date:
- 03-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA)
- Abstract:
- The United States began to experience impact from the global COVID-19 outbreak in late January 2020. States, counties, and localities were almost immediately affected, and faced unprecedented challenges in providing services to meet the urgent needs of their communities. Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2020 in late March, providing over $2 trillion to help cover the needs of affected individuals, families, and businesses. The Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) – part of the CARES Act – provided direct assistance to state, local, and tribal governments, and designated $150 billion for counties with populations of more than 500,000. The National Association of Counties (NACo) asked the National Academy of Public Administration (the Academy) to evaluate how well the CRF funding supported counties in addressing the pandemic and to review the effectiveness of the CRF federal aid package and its implementation. Additionally, they asked the Academy to identify and document innovative strategies employed by six specific counties using CRF funds and to highlight their approaches to address social equity. With the guidance of an Expert Advisory Group (EAG) of Academy Fellows, the Academy’s report presents findings and recommendations that can improve both current and future federal-to-local programs such as the CRF. It also highlights how these innovative counties responded to the challenges their residents faced as a result of COVID-19—examples that could be used by other counties in similar circumstances. I deeply appreciate our EAG members who contributed valuable insights and expertise throughout the project and the Academy Study Team that delivered focused research and analysis. The constructive engagement of NACo employees, as well as current and former federal officials and our broader community of Academy Fellows who have special expertise in intergovernmental relations and operations, was equally vital. They provided important knowledge and context that informed this report. We also owe special thanks to the administrators and leaders of the six counties – Cook County, Illinois; Franklin County, Ohio; Hennepin County, Minnesota; Lee County, Florida; New Castle County, Delaware; and Pierce County, Washington – who took time out of their demanding schedules while addressing the ongoing effects of the pandemic to provide information to us about their challenges and initiatives. This report provides information to federal policy makers on how they can better address the lasting effects of the pandemic and enhance relationships between the multiple levels of government in the United States. I trust that this report also will be useful to NACo as it continues to represent and support its constituents and that the county examples herein will be especially helpful to others facing similar challenges.
- Topic:
- Governance, Local, Pandemic, COVID-19, and Funding
- Political Geography:
- North America and United States of America
177. The Pandemic Situation in Myanmar is Getting Worse Under the Military Government
- Author:
- Khine Win
- Publication Date:
- 08-2021
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- East Asia Institute (EAI)
- Abstract:
- Amid the ongoing military rule in Myanmar, the public health crisis has been reaching new heights. According to Khine Win, founder and director of Sandhi Governance Institute, hopes were high among citizens in Myanmar for a healthcare system that could aptly combat the COVID-19 pandemic upon the election of the NLD in November 2020. However, progress has been reversed and is yet stalled under the elongated military rule. Despite dire civil health and poverty predictions issued by the UNDP, World Food Programme, and other international organizations, the military government turned a blind eye to their warnings, exacerbating the ongoing health crisis. COVID-19 cases have been increasing exponentially, with the number of actual COVID-19 cases expected to be higher than official numbers. News that military rule is expected to continue into 2023 paints a dull future for the public health situation in Myanmar.
- Topic:
- Governance, Democracy, Pandemic, COVID-19, and Military
- Political Geography:
- Myanmar and Asia-Pacific
178. From the pandemic to a reorganization of time? Time sociological perspectives on the relationship between temporality, economy and state.
- Author:
- Lisa Suckert
- Publication Date:
- 12-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies
- Abstract:
- Does the pandemic foreshadow a more sustainable order of time? Can the crisis allow for a departure from the capitalist time regime? This article looks at the Covid-19 pandemic and respective state interventions from a perspective inspired by the sociology of time and eco- nomic sociology. It shows that the social and economic disruptions attributed to the pan- demic can be understood as the result of a collision of opposing temporal logics. In order to contain the pandemic, the state initially enforced ways of dealing with time that contradict the capitalist time regime and its major principles – commodification and rational use of time, acceleration, and appropriation of the future. This “return of the state” as a power governing its citizens’ time does not, however, in itself imply a “new temporal order” that goes beyond the current state of emergency. The article shows that those state interventions intended not to contain the virus but to mitigate its social and economic consequences can often be understood as attempts to mediate between different temporal logics and cushion their collision. They essentially facilitate a “return” to the capitalist time regime and thus perpetuate time-related inequalities.
- Topic:
- Capitalism, Inequality, Pandemic, COVID-19, and State Capitalism
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
179. Not for patching? Public opinion and the commitment to ‘build back better’
- Author:
- Karl Pike, Farah Hussain, Philip Cowley, and Patrick Diamond
- Publication Date:
- 01-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Mile End Institute, Queen Mary University of London
- Abstract:
- Announcing the launch of a ‘Build Back Better Council’ in January 2021, bringing together various business leaders, the Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that ‘as we recover from this crisis it won’t be enough to just go back to normal – our promise will be to build back better and level up opportunity for people and businesses across the UK’. 1 The following month, the Leader of the Opposition, Keir Starmer, said he believed ‘there’s a mood in the air which we don’t detect often in Britain. It was there in 1945, after the sacrifice of war, and it’s there again now. It’s the determination that our collective sacrifice must lead to a better future’. 2 The historian and peer – and the Mile End Institute’s patron – Lord Hennessy similarly argued recently that the Covid-19 experience ‘has sharpened our sense of the duty of care we have one for another, that a state has for all of its people, to a degree we have not felt collectively since World War Two and its aftermath’. 3 These appraisals of the impact of the crisis, and political commitments to change, are giving rise to debate. Are we to experience a moment similar to that of postwar transformation? If so, what is the prospect for the Britain that emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic to be significantly different, in policy terms, from what preceded it? The latter question in particular animates this project – Not for Patching?, of which this report marks our earliest findings, based on an opinion survey. Ipsos MORI surveyed 1,120 adults across Great Britain, posing questions across a range of policy areas. Fieldwork was carried out online from 19 March 2021 to 22 March 2021, and data weighted to match the profile of the population. All polls are subject to a wide range of potential sources of error, but they still give us an insight into the public’s priorities. Further analysis of this data, and further surveys, will continue to add to this project. The purpose of this report is to examine the views of the British public on what rebuilding after the pandemic might mean. What we offer here are some preliminary indications of what policy areas the public want to prioritise, and how the machinery of government has managed and performed during this crisis. We are interested in both priorities and performance here, not least because we consider them linked.
- Topic:
- Infrastructure, Governance, Pandemic, and COVID-19
- Political Geography:
- United Kingdom and Europe
180. Statelessness and COVID-19
- Author:
- Jamie Liew
- Publication Date:
- 07-2021
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Statelessness & Citizenship Review
- Institution:
- Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, Melbourne Law School
- Abstract:
- Throughout the past year and a half, we have witnessed how no person or community on this planet has been untouched by COVID-19. There are countless reports about the differential experiences that various communities face in access to healthcare but also how some public health measures meant to stem its spread may actually be harming particular persons. The pandemic has put into sharp focus the inequities and the gaping fractures in societies all over the world. Moreover, the pandemic has made many realise that we cannot ignore the marginalised in our community given the interconnectedness of our existence. This issue’s critique and commentary part presents a snapshot of how some stateless persons are coping during the pandemic but also features the work of grassroots organisations and emerging researchers. We take a look at five stateless communities: the Rohingya in Bangladesh;1 LGBTQ+ undocumented in Brazil;2those seeking reproductive healthcare in Canada;3 the Bidoon in Kuwait;4 and the stateless in Sabah, Malaysia
- Topic:
- Public Health, Pandemic, COVID-19, and Stateless Population
- Political Geography:
- Bangladesh, Malaysia, Middle East, Canada, Asia, Kuwait, Brazil, South America, and North America