Social Inequality

I am going to write about social equality and inequality.

Firstly, the main inequalities in society are class, gender, race and inequalities in income and wealth. Inequalities are usually represented in one of three patterns:

• Hierarchical inequality. This is the main pattern of inequality in income and wealth.

• Stratification. People are ranked in groups, set at different levels. This model is mainly used in discussions of class and gender.

• Social division. Societies can be seen as almost divided between groups - 'black' and 'white', men and women, rich and poor.

Secondly, Policies for equality. The inequalities which people are concerned with, Rae suggests, can concern

• individuals - the comparison is made, for example, between rich and poor people

• blocs in society - like women, racial minorities, old people or regions

• segments - for example, a distinction confined to children or to women.

Policies for equality can aim at:

• equality of treatment. This is treatment without bias, prejudice or special conditions applying to people

• equal opportunity. This can be the opportunity to compete, or the chance to compete on the same footing as others

• equality of outcome. Policies which are concerned with inequalities of income or health status are generally concerned with removing disadvantage in outcome.

Third issue is redistribution. A measure is redistributive if the people who receive goods or services from a measure are not the same as the people who pay. All welfare provision is, by definition, redistributive in some way.

Redistribution does not have to be from rich to poor. Redistribution is conventionally classified as vertical or horizontal. Vertical redistribution may be progressive (from rich to poor) or regressive (from poor to rich). Horizontal redistribution goes from one kind of group to another - from men to women, households without children to families with children, tenants to owner-occupiers.

Egalitarian redistribution is progressive, but there are many ways to achieve equality, with different effects. There are four strategies:

• maximin, or raising the minimum;
• minimax, or levelling down the best off;
• least difference, reducing the range of inequality at each end; and
• ratio, compressing the range so that everyone is pushed nearer to others.

In Lithuania, The Minister of Social Security and Labour has an overall responsibility to coordinate and implement gender equality issues in all spheres and is hence to function as a Gender Equality Minister. The Division for Labour Market and Equal Opportunities is located within the Ministry of Social Security and Labour. The functions of the Division are to implement the government policies on gender equality within the competence of the ministry and to coordinate activities on gender equality in other fields. Moreover, the Inter-ministerial Commission for Equal

Opportunities for Women and Men, with representatives from all the ministries, has had an overall

responsibility for gender equality to be taken into account in all issue areas.

Lithuania also has an Office of Equal Opportunity Ombudsperson, which is

an independent institution accountable to the Seimas (the Parliament), currently with seven employees. Individuals can appeal if they have been discriminated against, in employment or education, due to their sex. The Office can also initiate investigations. Moreover, the

Ombudsperson supervises the implementation of the Act on Equal Opportunities.