COVID-19: a reckoning with inequality
published 3.24.20
The Coronavirus has caught many of us, including governments and businesses, completely unprepared. We are struggling to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances and face enormous uncertainty.
Amidst the chaos unfolding before our eyes, I’ve started to feel a sense of historical relevance. What we are living will shape the narrative for years to come. How do we want to remember this time? What are the reactions and behaviors that we will be proud of?
Business case studies will be written about the “winners” and the “losers”. There will be political analyses on governmental and institutional responses and economic debates on what could have been done better. Nonetheless, this is also an opportunity to take a hard look at our production systems and at our entire framework for understanding and valuing work, income, and livelihoods. COVID-19 is an unparalleled opportunity to make some of our global equity problems salient to policymakers, C-suites, and the general population, once and for all. For instance:
Some reporting has begun to surface on the instability of gig workers in the US, UK, India, and beyond.
There is growing recognition that some people have to choose between social distancing and paying for rent or buying food.
A new light is being shed on the known challenges of the US healthcare system which is already stretched to its limits and our overall labor provisions. Who gets tested? Those that can afford it? Those that need it most? What if those that need it can’t afford it? Who can afford to stay home?
But really, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Gig workers and the underemployed hourly workers do not share the same plight as farm workers, nearly half of them undocumented, that are the backbone of California’s agricultural sector (the pantry of the US). How does one look for healthcare with the fear of being removed from the country they call home? Construction workers, house cleaners, farm workers, among others work in close proximity with one another, dependent on a daily wage, left adrift in the current sea of change. This is not a minor issue. There are approximately 22.1 million undocumented workers in the US.
And if we are willing to peel one more layer of the onion and take a deeper look, the issues become graver. How do we support indebted laborers, trafficked individuals, and many others that are experiencing Modern Slavery? When your most basic rights are already missing, how do you react to a crisis like this? Our global supply chains have Modern Slavery. This is not a problem that happens “far away” or only in the Global South. By 2016, the US had an estimated 400,000 people living in Modern Slavery. Forced to live and work in crowded conditions, our fellow humans don’t have access to key identifying documents, and can’t communicate with the world outside. At a global scale, how long will it take for COVID outbreaks to reach mines, assembly lines, and covert manufacturing facilities? The financial disruptions to global trade have been widely covered in the past few weeks. The human rights implications are only now beginning to surface.
If you’re looking for pointers on how to begin, here are a few:
Brands:
Develop a framework for understanding your human rights risks
Implement best practices in your recruitment processes
Consumers:
Inform yourself on the policies of the brands you love.
Do the businesses you’re supporting have a Modern Slavery Statement or Human Rights Policy listed on their website?
Are they a member of any initiative that works on this topic?
Have they signed any pledges?
It is how we treat the most vulnerable among us that will be our lasting mark on the post-COVID-19 world order. We can start by recognizing that extreme inequality exists and bringing to light the organizations working to increase transparency in the working conditions of the products we buy on a day to day basis.
If you’re interested in learning more about how we can support your work in these areas, please contact us below.
by Camila Gómez Wills
Consultant
