Building back fairer: Why women need a UBI
UBI Lab Womxn was the second non-geographical Lab in the Network.
They will be doing a week long takeover of the Blog this week.
Here are some of the co-founders and those involved:
“The pandemic has shown us that we urgently need to create and economic floor that no-one can fall beneath.
The introduction of a UBI could not only reduce poverty and growing inequalities, but provide a springboard for more fulfilling lives.”
Alex Culvin
Alex is a University lecturer in business studies at the University of Salford and has a PhD in social policy. Interested in people and ideas. Striving for a more equal, ethical, sustainable society for all.
Why am I passionate about a Universal Basic Income?
A Universal Basic Income is a transformational idea that has the capacity to change the lives of women across the world. I live in Liverpool, a city, like many others that has been torn apart by austerity measures. A city where young girls have less opportunity just by the location of their birth. A Universal Basic Income could be part of a solution where opportunity is not defined by money, or location. The decisions being made now will have ramifications for our future.
Women are most likely to be in low paid, precarious employment [1]. On average women carry out 60% more unpaid work than men [2]. Meaning they own less, earn less and are more likely to live in poverty. A UBI is only part of the solution, but through providing women with economic freedom we can imagine another way. A system rooted in equality, solidarity and humanity.
Tchiyiwe Thandiwe Chihana
The concept of Universal Basic Income presented me with an opportunity to table income inequality experiences of Black and other racialised migrant women. At 9% in 2019, black people had the highest unemployment rate out of all ethnic groups.
According to Runnymede Trust and the Women’s Budget Group, black women have been disproportionately affected by austerity measures and have been experiencing the biggest average drop in living standards since 2010.
I worked in the refugee sector and witnessed unjustifiable extreme poverty conditions that refugee and asylum-seeking women and their children experience in the UK. Recently, the British Red Cross reported a rapid increase in the number of refugees and asylum seekers facing poverty with more and more asylum seekers needing food parcels and clothing, especially women.
Financial insecurity and poverty should be addressed by tackling structural inequalities. A UBI, while not directly responsive to systems of inequality, would likely go a long way towards realising this for womxn of black or migrant backgrounds.
Such conversations are often prickly and uncomfortable given the context of unconditional access to a basic income. However, they should be had and a path for policy makers to be informed efficiently must be created.
Co-founding of the UBI Lab Womxn provided an opportunity to place these issues on a mainstream platform that will inform and influence policy. With the potential to reduce poverty by up to half the current levels, a Universal Basic Income at the very least, should be tested.
“Financial insecurity and poverty should be addressed by tackling structural inequalities.
A Universal Basic Income would likely go a long way towards realising this for womxn of black and migrant backgrounds.“
"It would stop money being the defining factor in my future and reduce the anxiety that money creates in today’s society."
Beatrice Bannister
I support a universal basic income because it would stop money being the defining factor in my future. A UBI would allow people to choose how they want to spend their time and what they want to study based on their interests instead of how much they would get paid. A universal basic income would reduce the anxiety that money creates in today’s society.
As a woman, a UBI would also increase gender equality. It would repay women for the unpaid work they carry out (75% of all unpaid care work) and it would encourage men to share some of that work. It would also allow women to leave abusive relationships that they otherwise might be unable to for financial reasons.
Lydia Godden
I believe the introduction of a universal basic income could help women leave abusive relationships where financial coercion is common place. If women were equipped with their own monthly payments it would restore their financial independence and provide them with more opportunity to leave their abusers.
Coercive control of financial resources within abusive relationships deprives women of the means necessary to leave an abuser. Financial dependence is a leading reason why many women often return to their abusive relationships multiple times before leaving for good.
In this way, a universal basic income could give women the vital financial independence they need to escape abusive relationships. It can ensure the safety of survivors by giving them the means to create a new, independent and safe life for themselves.
As a young woman, I believe a universal basic income could advance women’s rights and help many women within the UK.
"The implementation of a universal basic income will restore financial control in peoples lives and help alleviate poverty here in the UK."
The Official Launch of the Womxn’s Lab was on the 29th of August 2020 at 6pm.
The online discussion was on UBI, COVID and Women and you can WATCH AGAIN here.
Topics discussed included: What future do we want to see coming out of the current pandemic? How have the caring responsibilities of women and mothers been affected during the COVID pandemic? How would a UBI help women?
The guest speakers were: Amelia Womack - Deputy Leader of the Green Party, Sarah Rees - Women's rights activist and equal parenting campaigner, Lydia Godden - Co-founder of UBI Lab Women and UBI Lab Youth, Chloe Shaye Rees - Bridgend Young Labour. The event was Chaired by Beatrice Bannister.