NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Leaders at this year’s World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings will determine how best to recover from one of the biggest crises the institutions have faced since their founding in 1944 – COVID-19’s impact and its economic aftermath. Given the need to fund treatment and vaccines, there is pressure to scale back funding for social provisions. But doing so would prove a catastrophic – and costly – mistake. Instead, leaders must boldly finance a more equal world.

The issue isn’t just that COVID-19’s impact is unequal; it’s that inequalities, especially gender inequality, will hamper an effective recovery. Inequalities undermine the world’s readiness for future pandemics and shocks, and block achievement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. It is one thing to call for these inequalities to be addressed; it is another to allocate funding to rectify them. We must invest in greater rights for them to be actualised.

Photo courtesy of coyot.