A blog by Palwashay Arbab, Community World Service Asia

Technology is a double-edged sword. This is especially true if we look at gender equality for which, technology is promoted as an enabler. But as much as technology bridges the digital divide, increases access to communication and makes the world a global village, it also contributes to creating gaps and inequalities. As it amplifies the voices of some, it limits the participation of others. As much as it brings people together, it also drives them further apart. As much it gives liberty and freedom, it also creates loneliness and isolation.

Is it the new bitter-sweet symphony, I ask myself? Maybe.

As leading advocates of digital equality, I wonder if the organisers of the UN CSW67 considered the use of technology to ensure the effective inclusion and participation of delegates who face access constraints?  It is safe to assume that some of the key players in the fight for gender justice and closer to those suffering from abuse and lack of human rights cannot participate in the commission in New York.

But what is it proposed to ensure that their voices are heard in this pivotal platform where important decisions about them, their life, their rights and their future are made?

Undoubtedly there are various virtual spaces and side events that those interested can participate in. These are great learning spaces. But there needs to be a plan for ensuring the equal access as virtual delegates for those communities that would otherwise go unheard. Yes, most governments are there to represent their people and their issues, but one cannot deny the difference in perspectives that a government representative and a civil society activist or a community member has and like to echo at an important platform like this one.

The digital divide can be conquered and ensuring access and meaningful participation is a way to dominate it. We have a tremendous opportunity to ensure equal and full participation for everyone, in every corner of the world with the use of technology.

Many potential delegates like myself who require a visa to just reach New York, were denied access only because we could not reach the country physically. However, we could participate and contribute if given the chance to participate virtually – as equally as those present at the headquarters. I can still participate in the conversation by writing this blog post.

But then I wonder – what about countries like Afghanistan? My women colleagues have been barred from working. They still do, from home, trying their best to complete all the tasks hidden from view.

Their roles and responsibilities have been changed to ensure working from home is possible and project activities continue. But some things can only be done by women. For instance, only a woman communicator could get a story from an Afghan woman or girl. Only she could ask them about their needs or if the support is meeting their requirement?

Who is to fill that gap?

These are the challenges we need to overcome. And it is their voices we need to hear the most if we truly want to achieve gender justice. It is their story that needs to be told, and they need to be able to tell it.

We cannot let technology and the digital divide leave them behind.  We must do more, and we must do better. We must allow it to be an enabler and we must create resources and opportunities for those voices that risk to be otherwise silenced.

By Dr Thorsten Göbel and Dr Marianna Leite

The new year presents an opportunity to analyse situations afresh and reassess the main priorities for the upcoming months. However, this is an uncanny period that reflects worrisome trends around the globe.  

Why now? 

This week, world leaders are meeting in Davos at the World Economic Forum to discuss issues such as the care economy, climate finance, trade and financial inclusion. Oxfam notes that, despite the political rhetoric, ‘at least 1.7 billion workers live in countries where inflation is outpacing their wage growth, even as billionaire fortunes are rising by $2.7 billion (€2.5 billion) a day.’ These trends are increasing due to the effects of the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, COVID and other crisis-profiteering created a new billionaire every 30 hours while many people faced extreme poverty. 

Promoting economic justice from an ecumenical perspective 

In 2012 the Global Ecumenical Conference on a New International Financial and Economic Architecture organized by the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC), World Council of Churches (WCC) and Council for World Mission (CWM) lead to the creation and publication of an Ecumenical Action Plan for a New International Financial and Economic Architecture (NIFEA) which promotes an Economy of Life for All and is endorsed by ACT Alliance. 

A preceding NIFEA statement developed with Global South actors in São Paulo, Brazil states that ‘[c]urrent economic systems pose a profound obstacle to the justice and peace we need as one humanity for our life together, today and tomorrow.’ It adds that ‘[t]he pursuit of profit, when it is held up as an ultimate value in itself and when it becomes the purpose of life, is sinful.’ The endless thirst for profit is ‘spawning violence, inequality and climate change and obscures the vision of God for unity, peace, and plenty for all of God’s creation.’ This work calls for changes in the financial sector, sustainable and equitable public finance and debt, and inclusive and transformative global governance. 

The work of ACT Alliance and its members 

What does this mean in practice? Economic justice is a cross-cutting theme under the  ACT Alliance Global Strategy 2019-2026: Putting People First. ACT Alliance and its members have a proud history of campaigning for economic justice and change.  

A recent briefing paper published by ACT Alliance on the intersectionalities between economic and gender justice affirms that ‘ACT understands economic justice as a set of principles around macroeconomic policies wherein the ultimate goal is to enable the realization of human rights and to create an equitable environment that ensures people and planet thrive. There is no economic justice without gender justice. Similarly, there is no transformative economic change if policies and actions are not human rights-based and/or connected (…).’ 

ACT Alliance member Christian Aid commissioned a collection of essays unpacking what a feminist, anti-racist, eco-social contract for people and planet would look like. These essays flesh out what a rights-based economy means, how to ensure bottom-up approaches, and how a transformative social contract can be realized.  

ACT member Norwegian Church Aid produced a report in 2022 calling for a UN Tax Convention and exploring the merits and feasibility of a new international convention on tax and financial transparency. Similarly, Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland (Evangelical Church in Germany – EKD) published a report which was strongly supported by ACT member Brot für die Welt, calling for a complete overhaul of our current financial system.  The EKD report states that ‘[t]he financial scandals of recent times […] have clearly revealed the deficits in the financial economy’s understanding of responsibility, the deficiencies in their control through politics and the constitutional state, and the inequalities in the growing national and global economics.’   

New year, old resolutions 

It is evident that the current global economic system and its governance structures reinforce a vicious cycle of inequalities by keeping political and financial power in the hands of a small elite. Religious discourses have been used to justify these inequalities and perpetuate violence, systems of privilege and structural exclusion. Meanwhile, the unfairness of entrenched inequalities is not only felt by those who are economically marginalised, but increasingly shared by ordinary people across the globe. 

Our faith emphasises the shared commitment of caring for our common home together, with cooperation and solidarity rooted in justice, care and sustainability. States and world leaders meeting in Davos this week must move from an economy that exploits and makes care invisible towards fundamentally transforming the role of the economy: to set a direct path towards equality, sustainability, poverty eradication, and inclusive economic benefits. 

Dr Thorsten Göbel is ACT Alliance Director of Programmes. Dr Marianna Leite is the Global Advocacy and Development Policy Manager at ACT Alliance.