All Things Being Equal

The United Nations advocates that children’s experiences of growing up should be characterised by equality (OHCHR, 1989; United Nations, 2015). Yet even before COVID-19 emerged, inequalities were a global problem for early childhood, which matters because ‘Inequalities in early childhood development tend to persist into adulthood and amplify across the life course’ (Lu, Cuartas, Fink, et al., 2020, 1). We know that there are strong associations between inequality and wicked problems including low life expectancy, paucity of educational and health outcomes, weak development of human capital, lack of social mobility and failed social cohesion (Wilkinson and Pickett, 2010; 2018). Nevertheless, in 2022 as the World emerges from global pandemic shock, aspirations that young children worldwide may experience equality seem less achievable than ever.