It took a global pandemic and stay-at-home orders for 1.5 billion people worldwide, but something is finally occurring to us: The future we thought we expected may not be the one we get.
We know that things will change; how they’ll change is a mystery. To envision a future altered by coronavirus, Quartz asked dozens of experts for their best predictions on how the world will be different in five years.
Below is an answer from Cindy Gallop, the founder of MakeLoveNotPorn.
We will see a reversal of who is valued and who makes more money. The pandemic has exacerbated income inequality and the huge divide between the haves and have-nots. It has especially thrown into sharp relief that the essential workers we’ve applauded every night—the healthcare workers, carers for the elderly and infirm, grocery store workers, cleaners, teachers—are paid so little to care so much, while people who don’t give a shit about anything else except making money through ruthless and predatory means—the denizens of Wall Street and corporate America—are paid so much to care so little. The former are predominantly female and many Black; the latter are male and white. We’ve seen who, and what, really matters. Values will drive perception of value, versus the complete and total lack of them. The world will never be the same again, and that is a very good thing for those of us who were never the status quo to begin with. We are going to bring our values to bear on who deserves to be enriched, because of how much they have enriched us all through their work and their care when nothing else mattered.
To read more New Normal answers, click here.