The deteriorating state of children’s condition on a global scale and the increase in social ills involving youths show that growing up in relative poverty and living amidst income inequality have negative effects on the overall well-being of the young. These effects perpetuate along the course of life.
Child-relative poverty (children living in a household with income of less than half of median household earnings) appears to be an influential indicator in children’s lives. This strongly suggests the connection of overall income inequality to the dire state of children living in relative poverty line.
Back in 2000, reporting before the world on The Progress of Nations, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan pronounced that “The principle of ‘all children, all rights’ is still much too far from being a reality.” Today, the state of children’s welfare still looks bleak, and the reality of income inequality makes present programs and interventions inadequate.
-
There are 67 million children without access to primary education.
-
Across nations with wide per capita income gap, there is an association with mortality rates for children under 5 years old.
-
Along the life course, exposure to relative child poverty and low socioeconomic position are linked to increase in adult mortality and morbidity rates, and even to crimes like homicide.
Majority of nations are committed to the UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child, the universal policy that ensures utmost well-being and protection of children regardless of race, color, gender, language, religion, opinions, origins, ability, and wealth and birth status. The last two, wealth and birth status, come as strong challenges in the midst of the harsh realities that worsening income inequality brings.
THE TRUTH BEHIND CHILD WELL-BEING
Is there a direct relation between the well-being of a child and socio-economic status? Immense body of evidence globally and on a per-nation documentation show there is. This, despite the availability of public and private support programs and reports on improved economic growth.
Government support services. First, for children whose parents belong to middle or poor income earners, aren’t government support services enough to carry them through healthy adolescence and adulthood? The answer is a resounding no.
In a 2007 study by senior epidemiologists Kate E. Pickett and Richard G. Wilkinson, which examines the relationships between child well-being in terms of average income, income inequality and relative poverty, it was found out that important measures in child well-being are associated with socioeconomic status.
These measures include high infant mortality, low birth weight, poor educational performance, high rate of high school dropout, high obesity rate, prevalence of mental health problems, teenage births, and juvenile homicides. Social problems and ill health are associated with low socioeconomic status, and they tend to be more common in societies with wider differences in incomes between the rich and the poor. The study concludes that improvements in child well-being may depend more on reductions in inequality than on further economic growth.
This puts emphasis on the urgent need to recognize income inequality as an important social issue on its own, and not just an associated concern of the greater economic affairs. All these also mean the presence of government support services to carry out child well-being is and will never be enough.
Improving economic growth. The global Millennium Development Goals is advancing to eradicate poverty by 2015. Significant developments have been attained in the countdown towards these goals. Women and children’s welfare rank high on the agenda. Aren’t these major solutions already? Again, the answer is no.
The 2012 State of the World’s Children points out how wealth and income, when taken as aggregate can conceal the real situation of children in poor families. “The hardships endured by children in poor urban communities are often concealed – and thus perpetuated – by the statistical averages on which development programs and decisions about resource allocation are based. Because averages lump everyone together, the poverty of some is obscured by the wealth of others. One consequence of this is that children already deprived remain excluded from essential services,” Unicef reported.
While the situation pertains to urban children, the same holds true for children elsewhere. Too many children are denied even the basics like clean water, safe and permanent homes, and electricity. Childhood education and health care are far behind.
Certainly, general economic growth is not reflective of the real situation of children while government support systems for low income and poor households cannot be relied upon to address the serious and lingering child well-being issue.
Children of low-income parents don’t have access to basic necessities like clean water, much less good health and education. In contrast, children of high-income parents enjoy good health, early competitiveness and an assurance of a good future.
MAKING A REAL DIFFERENCE
As parental income, particularly the father’s income, becomes an important determinant of social position in the future, income inequality has morphed into a vicious cycle, trapping children whose parents belong to the middle or low-income brackets.
Canadian economist Diana Carney sums up the threat of income inequality when she pointed out that the key feature of income inequality is that it tends to be self-reinforcing. “Poor groups are less able to invest in their children, and in their health and education and other things that make for success, and so inequality is typically transmitted from generation to generation.”
What can be done in the face of income inequality to save future generations from being trapped in this vicious cycle?
For all the problems and social ills around it, income inequality is one area where various groups influencing children’s lives can come together and focus on this sole problem devoid of other interests if they are to make a positive and lasting difference.
Invest in education and health. These are two crucial areas of investment simply because child health care and education give the young ones a positive start in life and a more equal chance to participate in the society as they grow older.
-
Improvements in public school systems, partnerships with private educational institutions, implementation of free childhood education which is a basic right of the child.
-
For lawmakers, support and allocate solid funding for early childhood education and child health care. Private groups can also really make a ripple here.
Policy Reforms. This may be an overused phrase, but when implemented, they can really create improvements.
-
Better child care programs that will include more areas of child health care (physical, mental, emotional, social) for children and youths in marginalized families.
-
Reward states or regions that demonstrate big accomplishments through funding, recognition, leadership, respect and other great motivators.
-
Preserve and maintain existing institutions that have served its purpose well in the past – those who deal with food, nutrition, access to clean water, non-formal education, childhood play, life guidance, the list goes on.
Fresh ideas and new programs. These should directly help families, particularly head of households (fathers in single-income families, husbands and wives in double-income families, single mothers, and others).
-
Address relevant and urgent concerns like skills enhancements and competitiveness, livelihood opportunities, additional income streams, better home management, personal finance, and the like. These actions help prevent middle, low and very low income earners from being stuck where they are, socially and economically.
-
When sustained, these actions put an end to the non- accumulation of assets, non-advancement of skills, lack of education and worsening health. Bottom income earners are given personal power over their advancement in life, and their children will no longer have to be in a position that their birth status and their parent’s income put them.
CONCLUSION
The progress of a nation hinges on how well they protect their young so that they can expand their opportunities and reach their full potential. But in an increasingly changing world lapped up on technological innovation and modernization, the lack of a sustainable program to address child poverty, and by and large income inequality, means that there will always be too many children that will be left behind in life.
It is then imperative that to build healthier, more peaceful and progressive societies, more attention should be given to reduce income inequality and make sure the basic rights of a child are really enjoyed and taken advantage of to serve them well into adulthood.
Why is FinancesOnline free?
Leave a comment!