Introduction

At a time when economic forces continue to drive a global growth agenda and ever more imaginative approaches are introduced to alleviate the suffering of many millions – perhaps billions – of the world's citizens, enormous inequalities continue to exist. Since 2000, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have been used as an important lever to help to address critical needs related to wealth, health and education. Now, writing in 2015, it is clear that many of the development goals set out in 2000 are unlikely to be met in numerous countries. A major global effort is underway to set out a series of ‘Sustainable Development Goals’ (United Nations, 2014), which seek not only to continue the efforts encouraged by the MDGs but also to address the massive inequities experienced in countries in the Global South as well as in wealthier nations in the Global North. These inequities are manifested in many different forms, including the fundamental gap between rich and poor, the difference in wellbeing between those who have access to resources and decision-making processes and those who do not and the continued absence of political voice for many citizens.

In addition to material inequities (including global, regional and national imbalances in wealth and access to resources), it is clear from the life experiences of social groups who experience identity-based marginalisation (such as women, children, the elderly and disabled people) that power differentials continue to persist. Others experience marginalisation on the basis of their membership or alignment with specific societal groups, which may be identified according to caste, ethnicity or religion. Class, meanwhile, is more closely tied to occupation and wealth. In many countries, decision makers attempt to address these differing forms of inequity through policy processes that seek to assure the rights of citizens.

Education is widely regarded as a hugely significant means of addressing such inequalities. As well as increasing the likelihood of employment for those who have access to education, it can lead to the imparting of a range of life skills that have been shown to help address major challenges such as decreasing rates of maternal mortality and improving child nutrition.