By designing a policy package around the needs of contemporary families, political leaders can promote women’s rights, children’s development and employment.
Political economy has come a long way. Many figures and institutions that have long embraced neoliberalism increasingly recognise the failures of markets and acknowledge that states may have a role to play in improving socio-economic outcomes. Even the International Monetary Fund now discusses the ‘macro-criticality’ of social protection, the need for progressive taxation and, potentially, universal transfers.
But the conversation—which focuses almost exclusively on coordination between state and market—remains too narrow to produce effective solutions. For that, as a new report by UN Women shows, social factors—especially the role of families and gender equality—must also be included.
These two factors are inextricably linked, with gender inequalities being heavily reinforced by family dynamics, in a way that, say, racial inequalities are not. The problem is compounded by the fact that outdated assumptions about families and gender dynamics continue to shape social and economic policy-making.