XLRI Students' Blog on Corporate Sustainability

GROUP 3_A | SDG 10: REDUCED INEQUALITIES

15/12/2021 10:45:00 PM

A DRIVE TOWARDS ERADICATING GLOBAL INEQUALITY

“It’s 80,000 BC, you are immortal.
The world is still frozen in an ice age.
You decide to save $10,000 EVERYDAY, never spending a cent.
82021 years later, It’s 2021.
You still don’t have as much money as Elon Musk”

– Aaron D. on Twitter [3]

We live in a world driven by inequalities, right from a tiny fraction of species making up most of the biomass in Amazon rain forests to tiny fraction of Billionaires holding most of the world’s wealth. It is extremely disheartening to learn that 8 men have wealth as much as half of the poorest population of the world. [1] “Men” in the last statement is not accidental, inequality is sexist, men own 50% more world’s wealth than women. The unpaid work done by women for their families is estimated to be $10.8 trillion a year, thrice the size of entire tech industry, but completely unaccounted for. [2] Apart from economic inequality, our society is struggling to provide equal opportunities and promote social and political inclusion irrespective of age, sex, race, origin, religion etc. In several corporate and bureaucratic environments women and other minorities often face a glass ceiling, where irrespective of their capabilities and achievements, they are prevented to rise up the ladder. There are 49 countries still today, where there is no law protecting women against domestic violence. [1]

Source: https://www.wiego.org/content/expert-group-meeting-reducing-inequalities-sdg-10-progress-and-prospects

Sustainability Development Goal 10 (SDG 10) of the United Nations aim to Reduce Inequality within and Among Countries. With its 10 targets, it seeks to achieve income growth of the bottom 40% of the population higher than the national average, by 2030 and ensure equal opportunity by eliminating discriminating laws, policies and practices. It aims to regulate and monitor global institutions and ensure implementation of fiscal, wage and social protection policies. Also, it encourages financial flows to states and countries which are least developed and require it the most. [1]

Relevance of SDG to India

India being a very diverse and developing democracy – currently facing Inequality at various agendas, SDG 10: Reduced Inequality can help to bridge this gap, the following points substantiate this argument

1. Rising Income/Wealth/Wage inequality: Although India has seen a 5-fold increase in per capita income in the last 2 decades ($443 [2000] vs. $2014 [2019] ), the top section of the income pyramid has only benefited largely from this growth story. In 2018 top 10% of the population held 57% of India's Income, whereas the bottom 50% had a share of just 18% - wealth distribution also tells a similar story.

Gini coefficient - a globally recognized indicator for income inequality, shows increasing yoy income/wealth inequality and further indicates that the same has been aggravated post-economic liberalization policies of the 1990s (refer to below graph). Economic development has seen differentiating benefits across various sectors. Agriculture, the largest employer in India, has seen little to no growth compared to the national average, which means enormous income disparity between Rural-Urban, upper-lower perceived casts and groups.

Source: World Inequality DB maintained by United Nations

2. Political Representation Inequality:

a. Disadvantage/minority Political representation: Introduction of affirmative action in our constitution supporting the representation of the disadvantaged group has helped prevent Inequality to some extent, but large minority groups are still not being represented at the national or state level.

b. Women's political representation & voting: Women's political representation has remained low at state and national levels compared to other democracies. Also, although seen near equal participation from both genders, voting is somewhat influenced by males in disadvantaged communities.

3. Health & Educational inequality: Health and education are the function of income equality, although has seen a positive impact in gross school enrollment and health care in terms of overall numbers but still lags severely in universal health coverage and education dropouts. Extreme Inequality presents across gender, Income & social casts, and rural-urban demographics

4. Equal Rights & Non-discriminatory policy: Indian constitution empower every citizen the right to equality, but on the ground level, there are still disadvantaged communities fighting for fundamental rights. LGBTQ is another area where stakeholders are eagerly waiting for representation & rights.

Business Implications & Responses

Embedding inclusion as a core value has become a mandate for businesses operating in the 21st century as all stakeholders expect a state of being respected, supported, and valued. Teaching an inclusive environment within an organization allows employees to freely express themselves and eventually leads to diversity and the right conditions for candidates to achieve their full potential. This welcoming environment has been in the core values of Indian companies that we have analysed, which ultimately makes the organizations and individuals embrace the differences and offer respect for everybody in terms of words and actions. Some of the companies studied are as follows:

Amazon

Amazon’s culture works on 16 Leadership Principles which are reinforced with Inclusivity that seeks diverse perspectives and develops respect & trust among one another. According to Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, Amazon is one of the best places to work and is recognized on the Disability Equality Index and the NAACP Equity, Inclusion, and Empowerment Index. [5]

Amazon’s CORE (Conversations on Race and Ethnicity) program aims to educate Amazon employees with diverse backgrounds on the workplace experiences of people of colour and foster supportive and inclusive teams and individuals. Amazon has affinity groups to support community building, provide mentorship, and programs to create awareness around customer inclusion.

There are Women@Amazon chapters that participate in events on International Women’s Day and focus on women empowerment. Amazons’ Glamazon chapters are involved in Pride festivities and have developed Amazon’s Transgender Toolkit to support the LGBTQ+ community and their Inclusivity inside and outside the workplace. Among other initiatives, Amazon has doubled the representation of Black directors and vice presidents and has launched inclusion training programs companywide. It has also removed racially inappropriate language in its tech documentation.

Coca Cola

Coca-Cola has made significant contributions towards reducing inequalities through initiatives like 5by20 goal, Parivartan, Pragati, Unnati, Career Development Centers. The Coca-Cola Foundation has led social justice organizations in the U.S. and local communities. The company also addressed issues related to racism by pledging $500M. These initiatives towards women, minorities and people from lower socio-economic backgrounds closed the company to DEI goals and SDG 10.

Bain & Company

Bain & Company supports 8 SDGs that do not include Reduced Inequalities directly, but Bain has been working on DEI for the past 30 years. It curated a list of 10 actions that prove to advance the DEI. The Company has also evaluated the outcomes of these actions when implemented and identified the barriers that hamper DEI practices adoption. Along with the above, Bain has “Affinity Groups” like Asians at Bain, BGLAD, Blacks at Bain, Latinx at Bain, which are active networks that complement the DEI culture at the Company and provide additional support like training to different minorities. Since the Company influences many other companies’ decisions, they need to constitute such measures and work towards social causes.

Pernod Ricard

Pernod Ricard focuses on 12 goals where its impact can be most significant according to it. Its employs 18,500 people from 85 countries depicting inclusivity and diversity. In 2014, the company signed 110 local agreements with various social partners covering profit-sharing, salaries, and equal opportunities, which shows its efforts towards Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).

BCG

BCG encourages firms for sustainable resource use. It has taken initiatives towards equality by committing $100 million to advance racial equality. In 2020, women represented 44% of the overall BCG staff, and 42% of the new hires were women. BCG People Survey reveals that 90% of the employees were satisfied with the initiatives taken by the company towards social work and upliftment. BCG has achieved equal retention and promotion rates for women and men employees. Its DEI measures are spread throughout recruitment, retention, advancement, representation, and pay.

Analysis & Way Forward

In the current scenario, if we analyze across the globe, we find significant disparity among different countries. To understand this, division of countries can be done into four different kinds based on the following matrix:

The Proponent: Proponents are the countries where people are highly supportive of equality and inclusion. They are aware and intentionally make policies keeping the principles of SDG 10 in consideration. These include countries like the ones in North America, Australia, and Europe. For example, countries like the Netherlands, Sweden, and the USA are some of the top-ranked nations regarding equality in wealth distribution. Also, in terms of the inclusiveness index, all top 10 positions are occupied by European countries [4].

Way forward: While these countries are the top-ranked, there are still instances of inequality. Some European countries have been apprehensive of Muslim populations, while the US depicts sexism through its laws against abortion. The way forward includes creating regulations that are friendlier to all the sections of society, and this can be done through equal representation in the government.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_inequality#/media/File:Gini_Coefficient_of_Wealth_Inequality_source.png

The Novice: Novices are countries with their hearts in the right places. They wish to support diversity, equity, and inclusion, but due to low awareness, they lack behind and rank more inferior than the proponent nations. Novices are countries like the ones in South America and some African countries.

Way forward: These nations have a mix of good and bad policies. The bad policies are primarily unintentional and result from a lack of awareness among them. This could be helped through guidance from the proponent nations and international bodies like United Nations. Another way is to reduce poverty, after which they’d be able to focus on issues addressed in SDG 10.

The Spectator: Spectators are countries that still oppose the idea of inclusion and equality. This includes countries like India, Malaysia, Bangladesh, etc. These nations have low levels of equality. For example, India is one of the worst-ranked nations regarding income distribution. Most Indians are still against LGBTQIA rights.

Way forward: The spectator nations need to learn to accept the principles of diversity, equality, and inclusion. The starting point should be ensuring that folks who are aware of the surroundings are given the power to make laws. The income unevenness can be controlled by making better tax and labor laws. The acceptance of different communities can be promoted through education and better enforcement of existing laws.

The Bigot: Bigots are countries that are intentionally against the principles of SDG 10. They, on purpose, curb the rights of women, minorities, and poor incomes groups of the society. The bigots majorly include Middle Eastern countries like Afghanistan, Syria, etc.

Way Forward: In these countries, the situation is awful. Hence, work needs to be done at every level. Starting from the rulers who make policies to the commoners, it is crucial to educate the people. Along with this, the international bodies should negotiate with these nations and can even leverage certain things to ensure that equality is promoted.

Source: https://belonging.berkeley.edu/2018-inclusiveness-index-spotlights-metoo-water-access-and-refugees

Businesses

An analysis of companies showed how companies are taking multiple steps in the right direction. However, they’re far from enough. There’s still pay disparity, exclusion of minorities at managerial positions, lack of paternal leaves, and language barriers. These issues need to be addressed through friendlier employee laws, and the change needs to be driven by the top management.

People and Change

While policies and reforms do bring about a change, it is ultimately the people that drive nations and businesses. Hence, to bring about a perennial change, we must target the problem at the grass-root level, i.e., changing the mindset of people. And the only way to achieve this is through education. As per Sydney J Harris’ words, “The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows,” hence governments & business organizations around the globe should take initiatives and carry out campaigns to spread awareness

References:

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