Constitutional provisions here speak of equal opportunities for women with a string of legislation being enacted over the years to empower females on many levels; but indications of lower wages, persistent barriers to higher office and unabated violence against women point to the reality of gender equality being an unfulfilled goal in this country.
It is an unfulfilled goal in too many countries, and the targets set by UN leaders to redress some of the inequalities by 2015 have been criticized for being too narrow, but more importantly, failing to address the specifics that underpin gender disparity.
The UN targets point to achieving equality in education by 2015 with a focus on eliminating the disparity at the primary and secondary level. It also emphasizes the need for targeted action aimed at creating better income-earning opportunities for women, in addition to an increase role for women in the political sphere.
Freedom from violence, especially women and girls, is also among the targets set. The question of where Guyana is in terms of progress is equivalent to asking what the current state of affairs is for average Guyanese women; the report card indicates progress has been slow.
Who is the average Guyanese woman and what is her situation? She is heading a single-parent household, earning minimum wage and struggling to pay bills, and she is also performing the role of caregiver. If she falls outside of this category, she is still fairly young and is earning little every week at a retail store somewhere in the country. Ask her about gender equality and women empowerment and she might be able to cough up a response.
More alarming, some of the average Guyanese women are dying at the hands of their abusive partners; or are in the bracket of the many women who have either experienced some form of such violence and or knows someone who has — this is the state of affairs.
Women’s and social activist, Andaiye of Red Thread said people cannot begin to talk about the empowerment of working class women if they are not talking about economic empowerment. “You can’t talk about the economic empowerment of grassroots women if you have economic policies, as we do, which are actually predicated on the exploitation of the unwaged and low waged work of those women”.
She continued: “I’m not sure what they mean by women empowerment. There are two problems; it is very superficial, it tends not to hit at fundamental changes in structures and systems and the other thing which is connected is [the continued] use of the word women without any differentiation of race, class or anything,” she stated.
Yvonne Stephenson, Information Resources Manager, Ministry of Human Services said Guyana is making progress though she noted there is a considerable way to go. Still, she said that there remains some endemic discriminatory practices in the society which “can be explained because of our culture”, adding that such practices are barriers to the full attainment of gender equality.
The legislation progress shows a stream of legislation which supports equality, Stephenson said, noting that in terms of educational achievements, “women are doing very well comparatively speaking”. However, she argues that this does not carry over to placement in the higher echelons of administration in the country. Stephenson made mention of one female permanent secretary currently in the government service — Angela Johnson at the Ministry of Home Affairs.
‘I just fundamentally disagree with that’
Andaiye said that by using the word women in a way not differentiated by anything such as race; class; age and disability, people assume that there is something called empowerment of women that equally and in the same way applies to women across all kinds of different groups. “…I just fundamentally disagree with that,” she stated.
Obviously, she said, there are ways in which women are subordinated in Guyana and other countries, noting this is evident in various ways; in violence and the popular culture, women’s lack of autonomy in personal relationships among other things.
On the economic front, she said “everything little helps”, but insisted that a programme “here and there” is not what empowerment is about. She noted that macroeconomic discussions might be important, but questioned when the state will consider the economic challenges facing women at the household level. “It is unmanageable and actually disempowering what people are paid, the hours they work, etc…,” she said, arguing that the administration is not addressing the issue in any fundamental way.
Andaiye referred to an advertisement by the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security earlier this year which spoke of the obligations of employers for certain categories of workers. The majority of the professions cited in the ad were female dominated, she said, adding that she is unaware of any campaign to ensure that the laws are being followed.
She raised the issue of the caring work women do saying government continues to ignore the value of such work, which is the foundation of any economy. She often argues that without it, there is no economy. According to her, women do not receive equal pay for work of equal value, and remain the majority in the lower wage category of work, particularly in the public service.
Further, she said that it is nonsense to talk about political empowerment of women when a few numbers have been added up and “that’s it”. Andayie referred to this as superficial saying there ought to be clear changes in the country identifying who parliamentarians are accountable to. In terms of the interest of grassroots women, she said it makes no difference that there is a fair presence of women in Parliament.
Why not 50 per cent?
Stephenson said women account for about 39 per cent of the waged employees in Guyana and questioned why the figure is not at 50 per cent; she asked the same of the representation of women in Parliament which is also around 39 per cent.
The bulk of decision making in the country including at the level of boardrooms is still dominated by males, according to Stephenson, who points out that some barriers remain despite the fact that women are performing better academically.
Recent laws have empowered women, she said, and cited the reforms in the sexual offences law and the amendment in the banking laws which make provisions for easier accessing of loans. Pointing to the Women of Worth (WOW) programme, she said it offers women the opportunity to be independent in addition to teaching some how to tap into a skill.
Stephenson is confident that WOW will improve the quality of life for many women and according to her, “many are already benefiting”. She declared that women here are on the threshold of moving towards gender equality, “we are not there yet, but I think it is true to say that we are on the move…”
However, the prevalence of domestic violence points to the brutal demonstration of superiority in the society, she said, noting that this is a major inhibiting factor in terms of women’s progress. “…Until we can deal with this we do have a problem,” she added.
The fact that unwaged work is also not valued is a problem also. Stephenson argues that it is the most important work in the country which is largely performed by women. But what is more alarming, she noted, is that women who do caring work do not even view it as work because of how society treats the issue.
In addition, Stephenson contended that some of the determinants for measuring progress in gender equality ought to be changed. She said that the MDG targets for women empowerment cannot simply measure progress in some areas and determine that it is a level playing field.