Is it the role of governments to eradicate inequalities?

Is it the role of governments to eradicate inequalities?

The role of governements is to assure a well-being for its citizens, and the society generally. For this, they are implementing various policies in different areas to ensure the general welfare. But can the governments totally eradicate inequalities ? We will see that governments are planning several policies that help to contribute to eradicate inequalities, but they can not manage to reduce them entirely.

                I) The main role of governments is to limitate inequalities

        A. Health

A good health is one of the factor that can contribute to reduce inequalities, because an employer would prefer hire somebody in a good health because his productivity would be higher and he wouldn’t be absent for medical reasons. So, it is the role of governments to give to its citizens a good care system to assure the prosperity of its economy and of the population :

- USA : one of the main measures of Obama’s mandates was the reform of health insurance known as « Obamacare », that wanted to reduce the number of citizens without an health insurance, close to 50 millions in 2012. The goal was that everyone could benefit from an health insurance.

Before this reform, the elderly and poor people, respectively, could benefit of Medicare and Medicaid, two programs created by President Johnson in 1965.

- France : everyone can benefit of medical care, regardless his situation or the way to pay the intervention because the health of somebody, whatever his origin, prevails over everything else. In contrary, in the United States, you need to pay for the surgery or medical care before receiving the treatment.

        B. Income

- UK : the government pledged to reduce the number of people who live under the poverty line, and to fight against child poverty so it could enabled to increasing each child's chances of success.

        C. Education

- UK : Theresa May, the actual prime minister, plans to create new grammars schools, that were judged too much « elitist » several years ago, but this time with a quota of students from disadvantaged backgrounds. According to her, it will allow the success of these disadvantaged children and promote diversity. This program will encourage meritocracy: students could receive a good education, based more on merit rather than on their parents' income.

                II) However, inequalities cannot disappear entirely

Despite of the fact that governments' role is to try to eradicate inequalities, these problems cannot disappear entirely. Today, we  can think that a society without inequalities cannot exist.

        A. State’s policies can be inappropriate

Maybe inequalities do not disappear because the policies that are chosen are not appropriate.

- UK : after the prime minister’s statement, the idea of reintroducing the grammars schools in the English education system attracts a lot of critics who said that they increase inequalities and would be too elitist. For them, this program is not a good idea to eradicate inequalities, it will just participate to their rising

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