By George Obulutswa, NAIROBI Kenya
The world’s richest 2,153 people controlled more money than
the poorest 4.6 billion combined in 2019, while unpaid or underpaid work by
women and girls adds three times more to the global economy each year than the
technology industry, Oxfam said on Monday.
A combination photo shows (top, L-R) Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos, Amancio Ortega, (bottom, L-R) Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison, Carlos Slim and Michael Bloomberg. |
The
Nairobi-headquartered charity said in a report released ahead of the annual
World Economic Forum of political and business leaders in Davos, Switzerland,
that women around the world work 12.5 billion hours combined each day without
pay or recognition.
In its “Time
to Care” report, Oxfam said it estimated that unpaid care work by women added
at least $10.8 trillion a year in value to the world economy - three times more
than the tech industry.
To highlight the level
of inequality in the global economy, Behar cited the case of a woman called
Buchu Devi in India who spends 16 to 17 hours a day doing work like fetching
water after trekking 3km, cooking, preparing her children for school and
working in a poorly paid job.
“And on the
one hand you see the billionaires who are all assembling at Davos with their
personal planes, personal jets, super rich lifestyles,” he said.
“This Buchu Devi is not one person. I in India
encounter these women on a daily basis, and this is the story across the world.
We need to change this, and certainly end this billionaire boom.”
Behar said
that to remedy this, governments should make sure above all that the rich pay
their taxes, which should then be used to pay for amenities such as clean
water, healthcare and better quality schools.
“If you just
look around the world, more than 30 countries are seeing protests. People are
on the street and what are they saying? - That they are not to accept this
inequality, they are not going to live with these kind of conditions,” he said.
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