Instead of presiding over an economic system that panders to big business and a wealthy elite, a more human economy must be established which meets the needs of African women and young people.
Interpretation
We need an economic system that prioritizes the needs of marginalized groups, particularly African women and youth, rather than serving only the wealthy elite.
Winnie Byanyima advocates for a shift in our economic approach, urging the establishment of an economy that serves the basic needs of the most vulnerable populations, such as African women and young people. This quote highlights the importance of creating equitable systems that do not simply cater to large corporations and affluent individuals, but rather focus on nurturing the welfare and empowerment of those who have been historically sidelined in economic discussions.
In practice
This quote can be used in discussions on sustainable development at conferences.
High corruption and the influence of big business and the wealthy elite keeps the poorest Nigerians trapped in poverty and cut off from the benefits of economic growth and basic services. Some people - searching for the means to survive - became vulnerable to groups like Boko Haram.
African countries lose billions every year because of tax dodging by big corporations and wealthy individuals. They lose billions more from overly generous tax incentives in a misguided belief that this is the only way to attract foreign investment.
The high price of medicines is crippling healthcare systems and denying people access to the treatments they so desperately need.
The discrimination of women and girls goes to the core of any and all analyses of the world's economic, political, and environmental problems.
Inequality, climate change, and conflict are evicting millions from their homes. But these perils are being met with 'anti-answers' such as nationalism, closed borders, lies, and hatred.
We don't want to tell young girls and boys that the odds are stacked against them from the start. Instead, we could tell them that with passion, conviction, and determination we can build a better future. This future is possible by redesigning our economy to truly reward hard work rather than wealth.
There is no easy fix or youth unemployment. Partnership between the public and private sectors can make a big difference.
We need to revise our economic thinking to give full value to our natural resources. This revised economics will stabilize both the theory and the practice of free-market capitalism. It will provide business and public policy with a powerful new tool for economic development, profitability, and the promotion of the public good.
Industry entirely left to itself, would soon fall to ruin, and a nation letting everything alone would commit suicide.
There would be plenty of justification to raise revenues in order to subsidize businesses that employ low-wage workers. But there can be no justification for pandering to the economy's entire bottom half merely to attract its votes.
Government control of the economy, no matter in whose behalf, has been the source of all the evils in our industrial society -- and the solution is laissez-faire capitalism, i.e., the abolition of any and all forms of intervention in production and trade, the separation of State and Economics, in the same way and for the same reasons as the separation of Church and State.
Large fortunes are all founded either on the occupation of land, or lending or the taxation of labor.
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