Gender inequality in the English Caribbean refers to gaps between individuals based on gender in the Anglophone countries of the Caribbean. These disparities persist in areas such as human and physical capital endowments, economic opportunities, and the ability to make choices to achieve desired outcomes (agency).The World Bank. 2012. Gender Equality and Development: World Development Report 2012. Washington, D.C: The World Bank, p. 5.
Caribbean countries have been moving toward compliance with the United Nations' Convention on the Elimination on Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), but according to the UN Women Caribbean department, there is still work to be done to achieve gender equality in the region."Women's Empowerment and Gender Equality in the Caribbean" . Advocacy Brief. Retrieved April 9, 2012. In the English-speaking Caribbean, women are disadvantaged in the labor market as well as the legislature, whereas men and boys face unequal outcomes in education.Andaiye, "Plan of Action for 2005: Framework for Mainstreaming Gender into Key CARICOM Programmes", CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, 2003, part IV. Amartya Sen's capabilities approach asserts that all inequalities, including those relating to gender, keep individuals from securing opportunities and choosing from these opportunities to achieve desired outcomes.
Background The Caribbean is made of the chain of islands that border the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The region also includes mainland regions such as Guyana that identify culturally and historically with those island. The Caribbean region is made up of many developing nations. Most of the islands of the English-speaking Caribbean have less than a century of independence from colonialism and, by the world's standards, their governments are fairly young. In recent decades the world has seen significant changes in GDPs and other economic and globalization factors leading to increased inequality within and between countries.Berik, Günseli, Yana van der Meulen Rodgers, and Stephanie Seguino. 2009. “Feminist Economics of Inequality, Development, and Growth", Feminist Economics, p. 1. "In the last ten to fifteen years the Latin American and Caribbean region has undergone the most significant changes of economic policy since World War II."Peres, Wilson. Stallings, Barbara. Growth, Unemployment and Equity. The Impact of Economic Reforms in Latin America and the Caribbean. Brookings Institution Press: Washington D.C. 200, p.1. Many of these policies were expected to create new jobs and greater equality. Still “people in Latin America and the Caribbean region face unequal opportunities in life and different chances of economic success and very unequal outcomes ”Barros, Ricardo Paes. et al. Measuring Inequality of Opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean. Palgrave Macmillan and The World Bank. 2009, p. 26. Areas such as education, labor and politics are just a few but important areas in which gender inequality is apparent in the region. Growing GDPs and globalization however, are not enough to offset the effect of gender inequality. With the exception of education women bear most of the negative impacts that occur as a result of gender inequality in the Caribbean region.
Labor and migration Women in the Caribbean make up a significant number of the labor force but still earn significantly less than their male counterparts. On average, 50 percent of women are a part of the formal sector as compared to more than 75 percent of men.
Unemployment Unemployment rates are high throughout the region. According to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the unemployment rates in Antigua and Barbuda are at 11 percent (2001 est), about 23 percent (2000 est) in Dominica, 20 percent in Saint Lucia (2003 est), and 25 percent in Grenada. Unemployment rates are especially high for women despite their higher educational attainment. According to the World Development Report of 2007/2008 the female unemployment rate in Jamaica is 207 percent of the male unemployment rate, in Guyana that number is 240 percent, in St. Lucia 164 percent, and 190 percent in Trinidad and Tobago.Human Development Report. 2007-2008. United Nations Development Programme. New York, 2007, p. 299.
Informal work Informal work, as defined by Martha Chen, is work that may be unpaid or work that is simply not a part of the formal legal structure.Chen, Martha, Joann Vanek, Francie Lund, James Heintz with Renana Jhabvala, and Christine Bonner. 2005. “The Totality of Women’s Work,” in Progress of the World’s Women, pp. 22–35. New York: United Nations Development Fund for Women. Many women and men in the Caribbean region are engaged on a large scale in the informal sector. Within the informal sector however, there is earning discrimination. Men tend to do the work that earns high wages whereas women do the work that is considered domestic. Within the informal sector women earn less wages than men. This has important implications for the region because most households are headed by women who are the sole breadwinners.Sheila Stuart, "Female-Headed Families: A Comparative Perspective of the Caribbean and the Developed World", Gender and Development, Vol. 4, No. 2 (June 1996), pp. 28. This may also contribute to the poverty gender bias in the region. Informal work does not provide benefits such as healthcare and are especially vulnerable to economic shifts and natural disasters. Women in this region have less access to credit and other avenues that would allow them to enter the formal sector, therefore, many of their businesses, such as shop keeping, belong to the informal sector. Occupations such as inter island trade are largely unprotected. There are no assurances for healthcare, pregnancy leave, or sick leave.
Formal work Moves have been made at decreasing the gender bias in labor. Caribbean countries have put in place minimum wage levels as well as paternity and maternity leave. In this region many of the men employed in the formal sector are less qualified than their female counterparts and in fact, many are under-qualified. As a result, men are given more opportunities for onsite and occupational training. Women in the formal sector work less hours and earn lower wages. The Inter-American Development Bank reports that at every educational level, men earn higher wages than women.Annelle Bellony, Alejandro Hoyos, Hugo Ñopo. "Gender Earning Gaps in the Caribbean: Evidence from Barbados and Jamaica" August 2010. Inter-American Development Bank, p. 9. The wage levels for women with none, primary, and secondary education are similar. Women only see significant changes in their wages with tertiary education. This is not the case for men.
Cultural norms place the burden of care work and household work on women. Therefore, women are often forced into occupations that require them to reconcile their home responsibilities with their jobs. Many of the women who are employed within the formal sector, work as professionals which is a testament to their higher educational attainment. Still, there are fewer women in the workforce and they earn less than their male counterparts.
Migration Within the Caribbean region, significant portions of the population participate in extra- and to a lesser extent, intra- regional migration. According to the World Bank, between 1989 and 2001, more than 1.4 million Caribbean nationals migrated legally to the U.S.Josefina Stubbs and Hiska Reyes, "Migration and the Caribbean: A Path to Development?", The World Bank, 2004. p. 1. Migration, especially for economic reasons, also has a significant gender impact. Since the 1960s more West Indian women than West Indian men migrated to the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Professionals, particularly those skilled in Health and Education, have moved out of the region in large numbers.United Nations Secretariat, "Migration in the Caribbean –What Do We Know?" ECLAC. 2006, p. 1. Women often migrate with the hope of having their family follow years later or making enough money to provide stable lives for their families back home. The major migration of women out of the Caribbean region has a tremendous impact on a region known to have notoriously low marriage rates, and in which many households are headed by women.Seager, Joni. 2008. The Penguin Atlas of Women in the World. 4th edn, New York: Penguin Books. Many families construct extended family units in which childcare and housework are split among the women.Aymer Paula. "Caribbean women: Labor Migrants and Traders." Ahfad Journal 22, no. 1 (June 2005): 97–108. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost. Retrieved March 19, 2012.
Migrant nurses Migrant nursing programs find a large pool of recruits from the Caribbean. Traditionally nurses in the region were almost exclusively women. There are a substantial number of nurses from the Anglophone Caribbean working in the United States and an even greater number in the United Kingdom.Jones, A. D., A. Bifulco, and J. Gabe. 2009. "Caribbean nurses migrating to the UK: a gender-focused literature review", International Nursing Review 56, no. 3: 285–290. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost. Retrieved March 18, 2012). Since 1980 as many as one third of Caribbean nurses are thought to have migrated. This has major implications for primary care facilities, such as health centers which rely on the region's nurses.
Family life The burden of care work (childcare, elderly care, and care for the sick) housework falls disproportionately on women in the Caribbean. Within the region there is little to no provision for free childcare so this burden has severe implications for women. Social norms permit women to work for the sustainment of their families, but also carries expectations about family life and customs, that favor men as breadwinners and women as homemakers. This is a surprising fact considering that women in the Caribbean have worked outside the home since the days of slavery, through indenture, and on through independence. These norms have a negative effect on the region because most households are headed by a sole female provider. Family life, child care, and elderly care often shapes women's wage work, constraining them to places near the home.
Marriage Within the region, marriage rates are low.Joni Seager, The Penguin Atlas of Women in the World. Penguin Books, New York, 2009. p.24 Common-law relationships are common as well as visiting relationships where one partner lives or works in another country or at another primary residence. The general expectation throughout the region is that women remain monogamous whereas it is more acceptable for men to have multiple partners. It is common for men to have multiple families.
Domestic violence Violence against women is widespread throughout the region. According to UN Women Caribbean, 1 in 3 women in the Caribbean will experience domestic violence.UN Women Caribbean, "Ending Violence against Women." http://www.unifemcar.org/ge_iss.cfm?SubID=169&link_=12. Retrieved April 14, 2012. Three Caribbean countries are among the top 10 for reported incidence of rape, and all Caribbean countries have higher than the world average for rape. The devaluation of women's work, decreases their bargaining power within the home and this leads to widespread partner violence. Both women and girls are affected by violence. A large percentage of girls report forced sexual initiation.
Most of the countries in the region have now fully criminalized rape within marriage and have added measure that give women full access to courts for orders of protection. Partnership for Peace, UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women, and other organizations are all working to end violence against women in region.
Education