AND

INEQUALITY
• In spite of the 1992 Basel Convention designed to regulate the traffic in hazardous
waste and to bar its shipment from developed to less developed countries, such
shipments continue to occur even though they are illegal (three countries – Haiti,
Afghanistan, and the US – have yet to ratify the treaty).
The reason

• is that developed countries much prefer to ship the hazardous material out of their domains and away
from their populations.

•The hazardous work involved in extracting useful parts and metals from old computer technology
provides income for large numbers in the less developed world (Drori 2006).
• However, the income is very low and those who do such work are likely to become ill, at least
in the long run, from exposure to dangerous elements and components.

• The income earned will do little to improve the economic situation in the less developed world
and the negative health effects will only increase the gap between rich and poor countries, at
least in terms of health.
GLOBAL DIGITALDivide
One of the most important contemporary consequences and
causes of global inequality is the global digital divide. On
the one hand, those in poor countries are often not able to
afford – and even do not have the electricity needed to run
– computers to give them Internet access.

On the other hand, the lack of advanced technology,

especially when it is so abundant in the North, means that
the South continues to fall further behind the North
economically; that global inequality is increasing.

There is great inequality in the world in terms of access to

(people' s ability to get their hands on the technology), and
use of (once people gain access, their ability to operate the
technology), the Internet, as well as, of course, computers,
to say nothing of other digital technologies.
Most computers are in the developed countries; the less
developed countries have relatively few computers and
the gap are not narrowing appreciably.

As a result, the number of online users in the South is

negligible. In addition, the vast majority of Internet hosts
are in the North and, once again, there is little
representation of such hosts in less developed countries.

The main barriers to global equality in Internet access

and use are the lack of infrastructure within less
developed countries and the low incomes in those
areas, which make digital technologies, and therefore
access to the Internet, prohibitively expensive for most
in those areas.
However, all of these aspects of Internet use are not only
unequally distributed among nations of the world, but they are
also unequally distributed within nations, even the most highly
developed nations, with the poor (including immigrants from
the South [Benitez 2006: 181 – 99]) having far less access than
the middle class and the rich (Drori 2006).

Language represents another source of inequality on the

Internet.The vast majority of web pages on the Internet are in
English; a small number are in other languages – for example,
German, Japanese, French, Spanish, and Swedish.

Clearly those who do not speak any of these languages (the

overwhelming majority in the South) are at a huge disadvantage
on the Internet and may even find the Internet totally
inaccessible because of the language barrier.
One possible solution in dealing with the global digital divide one laptop per child Organization
involves hardware,
especially the creation and mass - production of a low - cost
personal computer. A nonprofit organization, One Laptop Per
Child, has created a computer for the 1.2billion children in the
developing world without one. It was originally designed to sell
for about $100. However, the development of these low - cost
computers ran into problems and the cost has doubled. The
corporate giant Intel also has a design for such a computer, but
it will be more expensive (Markoff 2007: C1, C2).
 In K-12 settings, a digital divide is commonly seen when students have limited or
no internet access at home. Students from low-income families can also struggle
to have devices like laptops or tablets which are often necessary tools, especially
as STEAM education becomes a wider focus in K-12 curricula.
This causes a lot of problems for students at home as they can struggle with
completing assignments and furthering their knowledge outside of classroom
hours. This has only increased since the COVID-19 pandemic which has sent
many students home to learn virtually.
K-12

In college, the digital divide looks similar to the way it exists in K-12 settings. Completing
assignments, taking supplementary online classes, or even access to virtual tutoring becomes a
daily challenge. An added issue is that limited access to reliable devices and high-speed internet
negatively affects career-related prospects. Internships, mentorship programs, and networking
College are harder to manage when students face the digital divide.

While the digital divide might not feel as obvious in traditional workplace settings, its effects
start long before an individual takes a job. As with any of the significant opportunity gaps, those
who experience the digital divide in earlier life can feel the effects well into their career.

It can limit their career options and opportunities for growth in certain industries. The digital
divide often means the difference between an individual having the training and experience they
need or missing the opportunity to hone their skills and further their education.
Workplace