Reflections from the Feminist Economics Group
on the Resisting the Rule of the Rich Report
The report Resisting the Rule of the Rich, published by Oxfam, provides an important diagnosis of the current phase of global capitalism: a system marked by the extreme concentration of wealth, the capture of political power by economic elites, and the progressive erosion of democracy. More than a conjunctural analysis, the report argues that inequality is not a deviation from the functioning of the contemporary economy, but rather one of its structural outcomes, produced and sustained by deliberate political decisions.
From a feminist economics perspective, the analysis presented by Oxfam is of particular relevance. The report suggests inequality is not manifested solely in indicators of income and wealth; it permeates central dimensions of the social organization of life including care work, social reproduction, the sexual division of labor, and hierarchies of gender, race, and territory. The report confirms what feminist economics has argued for decades: wealth accumulation at the top is inseparable from economic arrangements that rely on undervalued and unpaid care work, through which living conditions at the base of society are systematically undermined.
One of the main strengths of the Oxfam report lies in making explicit the relationship between economic inequality and political inequality. Drawing on recent developments in countries such as the United States, the report demonstrates how extreme wealth concentration translates into disproportionate political influence, including the shaping of public policy agendas, tax decisions, and regulatory frameworks in favor of economic elites.
In parallel, it documents how social demands for redistribution are increasingly met with repression rather than democratic dialogue. From a feminist economics standpoint, such political capture has concrete and unequal effects: women, racialized populations, and marginalized groups are systematically excluded from decision-making spaces, despite being the most affected by dominant economic choices.
The Oxfam report also highlights that, in the face of deepening inequality, many governments choose a dangerous path: repression instead of redistribution. We have seen protests against austerity, hunger, precarious working conditions, and environmental degradation frequently criminalized worldwide, while human rights defenders, community leaders, and social movements become targets of political violence. As such, inequality is not merely a distributive problem, but a direct threat to civil liberties and democratic participation.
From a feminist lens, the prioritization of repression over redistribution has specific implications. Women face ongoing barriers to political participation related to the overload of care work, lack of time, gender-based political violence, and institutional exclusion. When public services are dismantled in favor of austerity policies, the work necessary to sustain life does not disappear; it is displaced to households and communities, falling disproportionately on women. In this way, economic inequality reinforces pre-existing gender inequalities, deepening processes through which care work is rendered invisible and exploited.
The Oxfam report is particularly important in its insistence that the current inequality scenario is not inevitable. It points to concrete examples of social participation and democratic engagement, including participatory budgeting experiences and the strengthening of policy councils and civil society organizations, as illustrated by cases such as Brazil and Bolivia. The report emphasizes that expanding citizen participation, rebuilding democratic spaces, and strengthening collective action are central elements in confronting political inequality.
Feminist economics offers fundamental contributions that would strengthen the report. By placing care, interdependence, and the sustainability of life at the center of economic analysis, the feminist approach challenges the notion that economic efficiency can be measured solely by GDP growth or profit maximization. Resisting the rule of the rich necessarily implies redefining what we understand as economic value and social success. It requires recognizing that progressive tax systems, robust public services, universal social protection, and the valuation of care work are not costs, but essential conditions for just and democratic societies.
As the Feminist Economics Group of the Economy of Francesco Academy, we understand the report Resisting the Rule of the Rich as an urgent call for structural transformation. Confronting extreme inequality demands more than technical adjustments or marginal reforms; it requires a profound redistribution of wealth, power, and time, while recognizing the need to emphasize the common good in economic analysis. Above all, structural transformation should require that historically marginalized voices, such as women, racialized peoples, peripheral communities, and those in the Global South, be placed at the center of economic policymaking.
Ultimately, resisting the rule of the super-rich means resisting an economic model that sacrifices life and the common good in the name of accumulation. Feminist economics contributes to this resistance by asserting that there can be no democracy without social justice, and no social justice without confronting the material foundations of inequality and care systems. The Oxfam report reminds us that another future is not only desirable, but necessary and that its construction depends on political choices guided by care, equality, and human dignity.
