Silvia Otero Bahamón
There are many different inequalities that overlap, and reinforce each other. There are class inequalities, where rural dwellers and informal, uneducated urban dwellers are abandoned. There are race inequalities, overlapping with class inequalities, where indigenous- and African-descendent populations overrepresented among the poor, are systematically excluded and segregated from the mainstream. And then there’s also regional inequality, with some regions receiving the benefits of development and others that don’t. Again, these regions have strong class and racial components. There are also gender inequalities, of course, and these are only aggravated by the previous three.
Why do these inequalities remain? One reason is obviously the pro-wealth nature of the taxation system, where the rich are not paying their share of tax to the government. And government’s aren’t willing to change that! High quality education is often identified as a means of tackling inequality, but then we have a problem in Latin America: the segmentation of the education system. The poor attend public schools, and the middle and wealthy classes go to private schools. There is the absence of a class alliance that puts pressure of policy-makers to demand high quality education in the public sector. And for this reason, inequality remains high in the region.
