It is sometimes known as "the American Dream", but the illusion has spread all over the world. In countless stories we are repeatedly told that "hard work always pays".
Really? Tell that to Shameez Powell and seven other female cashiers who on August 11 last year were accused of theft by Shoprite in Pelican Park, Cape Town, and summarily dismissed for receiving tips from satisfied customers.
We are divided not only into haves and have-nots. A similar chasm exists between those who know and those who do not know that it is wealth and not hard work that determines one's future comfort.
If this were not the case, women in Africa would be at the top of the income pyramid, given that they often perform multiple hard-working roles: supplying the formal labour market, taking care of the food and energy needs of their families - which translates to even more hours of work - and doing other forms of unpaid care work.
But women in Africa do not have access to land and other productive assets as men do, and their jobs are also often in the lowest-paid, most insecure and unsafe work environments.For Sheraldine Diamonds, a seasonal farm worker in George in the Western Cape, and thousands of her colleagues, vulnerability, unfair labour practices, unequal pay and limited access to education for their children are the order of the day.
As revealed in Oxfam's 2018 report on inequality: "Last year saw the biggest increase in billionaires in history, one more every two days. Billionaires saw their wealth increase by $762-billion [R9.2-trillion] in 12 months. This huge increase could have ended global extreme poverty seven times over. Eighty-two percent of all wealth created in the last year went to the top 1%, while the bottom 50% saw no increase at all.
"Dangerous, poorly paid work for the many is supporting extreme wealth for the few. Women are in the worst work, and almost all the super-rich are men. Governments must create a more equal society by prioritising ordinary workers and small-scale food producers instead of the rich and powerful."
Diamonds was one of those in the bottom 50% who saw no increase at all. This does not mean that she and all the others in that category worked any less hard. In truth, these workers must have worked their butts off to make the 82% happen for the top 1%. But why such disparate outcomes?
Perhaps the time has come for us to realise that living off the income generated by capital as the absolute measure of success is a false notion. This false notion has tended to encourage a skewed economic structure, with owners of capital trying to get the biggest bang out of every rand they own.Unfortunately, compensating the so-called "factors of production" ultimately reflects the underlying power dynamics, with the rich and wealthy corporations using their power and influence to ensure that government policy works in their favour. To this end, compensation for work has systematically been squeezed out over the years in favour of compensation for capital or wealth, to the detriment of wage earners.
In this manner, the wealth-creating effects of wage earnings and the ability of the working class to accumulate productive assets are curtailed. At the same time, while effort cannot be transferred inter-generationally, wealth can. Ultimately, future generations of working class people will have to work longer and harder as compensation for labour dwindles. The children of the rich, however, have to work less and less as they live off the past incomes and accumulated wealth of their affluent parents.
We can no longer live by the mainstream economic justification of inequality as a system that provides incentives for innovation and investment, in this way creating wealth to benefit us all. There is growing evidence that the current levels of extreme inequality far exceed what can be justified by talent, effort and risk-taking.According to the report: "In total, Oxfam has calculated that approximately two-thirds of billionaire wealth is the product of inheritance, monopoly and cronyism. Oxfam's survey of 10 countries shows that over half of respondents think that despite hard work, it is difficult or impossible for ordinary people to increase the money they have."
Not only are the rich using their power to squeeze the wage rand, by denying workers the right to organise - and implementing countermeasures such as casual employment, outsourcing and intimidation, as was seen this week in response to demands by Dis-Chem workers - the wealthy steal from the poor.
The recent exposé that followed the Paradise Papers leak showed how corporations and the super-rich cheat poor countries out of more than $170-billion in tax revenues every year. Tax dodging is fuelling an inequality crisis where just eight men now own as much as half the world.
When corporations and the super-rich dodge taxes, it is ordinary people, especially the poorest and, of those, particularly women, who pay the price as governments balance the budget by raising their taxes and cutting vital public services. A cut in public services equals a cut in the living wage.
We cannot fix this broken and exploitative system unless we eliminate the gender pay gap and secure the rights of women workers. Oxfam's 2018 report calls on governments to take action to ensure that the wealthy contribute a fair share of revenue through higher taxes on the rich and a crackdown on tax avoidance.
Governments must also ensure that all workers receive a living wage that enables them to have a decent quality of life. Lastly, limiting returns to shareholders and top executives could free up some resources to spare towards a decent wage and better working conditions...