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Bridging the Policy/Practice Gap: Gender Equality and Cultural Norms in Jamaica

(with specific mention of other Caribbean states)

Presented to the Jamaica Red Cross, Workshop on Mainstreaming Gender in Disaster

Reduction,

January 15-16, 2014.

Terra Nova, Kingston, Jamaica

Main References and Extracts

1. Overview of achievements and challenges in promoting gender equality and women’s

empowerment. PIOJ/BWA/ECLAC, 2009.

2. Situation Assessment and Analysis of Children’s and Women’s Rights in Jamaica, UNICEF

Jamaica 2012.

3. Development Agenda Post 2015: Gender equality in the future we want, inequality and

Gender in Latin America and the Caribbean. UN Women

4. GOJ’s Gender Sector Plan, for the National Development Plan, Vision 2030.

Outline

What is there in terms of policy – gender equality?

How does Jamaica do in terms of practice

Sign posts and directions – what are we working towards

What are the challenges in practice and implementation of programmes and policies in

gender equality?

Any strengths?

What needs to be addressed?

Intro – Mind the Gap Please....Doors Closing...A metaphorical point of departure... if the gap is

too wide, we cannot get to the other side, our destination... and we will be left behind... the

doors will close... this is how i wish to frame this conversation about bridging the gap between

policy and practice as it relates to gender equality and cultural norms in Jamaica. And to figure

out the big philosophical question – how do we put gender equality front and centre of the

development discourse and action instead of on the sidelines?

What is there in terms of policy – gender equality?

In terms of a policy framework, the Government of Jamaica continues to make efforts to

advance gender equality and women’s empowerment but recognizes that there are areas

which still need to be strengthened. In this regard the Government affirms its political

commitment to human rights and under its treaty obligations of several international and

regional conventions relating to gender equality.

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At the policy level this commitment is substantiated by the ratifying of the Convention on the

Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW, 1984) Jamaica is also

signatory to the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence Against Women -

Convention of Belém do Pará 1994 and its Optional Protocol; The Beijing Platform for Action

1995; The Cairo Programme of Action (ICPD) 1994; the international Convention Against

Transnational Organised Crime and its three (3) Protocols including the Protocol to Prevent,

Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children; Jamaica’s

commitment to the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs, 2000-2015.) involves working

towards a new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty and eliminate gender-based

violence; The Government of Jamaica developed Vision 2030; a framework which is expected

to put the country on a path to achieve developed status by the year 2030 according the

proposed goals and objectives of the Vision 2030, National Development Plan.

A Generally Acceptance of Gender Equality in Policy Frameworks

There is a generally accepted gender equality framework for all government’s policies,

programmes, and plans and this is adopted at varying levels depending on whether or not

gender equality is central to a particular policy or programme; or emphasized as a priority.

The goal of gender equality is to ensure equal opportunity and equality of outcome to allow for

the possibility that both women and men may freely make different life choices. These choices

are often constrained by systemic and structural barriers such as legal frameworks and

institutional structures and cultural norms. On the other hand, gender equity refers to

elimination of differences which ascribe lower value to women’s contribution and perpetuate

unequal power and resources; and involves fairness and equality of opportunity where gender

is no longer a basis for discrimination and inequality. In a gender equitable society both women

and men enjoy equal status, rights, levels of responsibilities, and access to power and

resources. This enables them to make their own informed, realizable and free life choices1. An

agenda for promoting gender equity and gender equality is therefore consistent with a rights-

based approach which calls for the Jamaican State to protect, respect and fulfill the rights of all

citizens in keeping with the international conventions and instruments to which it has been a

signatory. This is done by integrating the norms, standards and principles of these obligations

into domestic legislation, plans, programmes, and policies. The expected outcome of

implementing a rights-based approach is a people-centred focus and the creation of a society

that is marked by mutual respect and dignity for all. (Vision 2030, Gender Sector Plan)

The principles of Gender Mainstreaming is conceptually accepted as an overarching strategy to

be optimally used in all Government ministries and in areas of priority earmarked for Jamaica’s

programmatic activities through its National Machinery the Bureau of Women’s Affairs. This

signalled the beginning towards a comprehensive gender mainstreaming thrust;

International agreements such as the Beijing Declaration and Programme of Action, the

Millennium Development Goals, among others, serve as a roadmap for the implementation of

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national policies, projects, and programmes desirous to achieve gender equality and empower

women. The requirement by the international community that public sector entities include a

gender component for all projects to be eligible for approved funding, has also bolstered the

efforts of local agencies to catalyse the integration of gender perspectives into national

development plans that address social, structural, and macroeconomic issues including

violence against women and girls.

Increasingly, the gender research agenda has been examining the underlying causes, including

prevailing social and cultural attitudes that contribute to the under-representation of women in

politics and in decision-making in public and private sector organizations. At the same time the

National Women’s Machinery has increased its research and sex disaggregated data collection

since an increase in capacity for its Research Unit (2006). Similarly Jamaica’s premier planning

institution (Planning Institute of Jamaica PIOJ) has strengthened its sex disaggregated and

gender data gathering while the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) and a number of

public sector entities have been enhancing their capacity but at a slower pace. In addition,

regional technical meetings with producers and users of statistics have brokered collaboration

with the National Women’s Machinery and national statistical agencies to facilitate better

collection of sex disaggregated data to inform a gendered perspective;

International Conventions and Gender Equality Development Targets

The Government of Jamaica has a track record of acceding to international instruments that

are supportive of gender equality and women’s empowerment. These include the Convention

on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Every four (4) years

the Government has been submitting a national report to the CEDAW Committee outlining the

measures that have been implemented to effect the principles of the Convention. Jamaica has

made incremental gains in the areas of legislation, social policy, labour market participation

and increased access to education particularly in secondary and tertiary levels as well as

increased resources for health care.

The National Women’s Machinery’s public education programme has a special focus on the

international human rights instruments and conventions such as CEDAW and Belem do Para,

the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural

Rights. The Millennium Development Goals has also been utilized as a guide on gender

equality issues, as a national framework for development as part of Jamaica’s National

Development Plan 2030 in general and as part of the Gender Sector Plan in particular. This

suggests that the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment are prioritised

development goals for Jamaica which are fast becoming indicators of Jamaica’s level of

development.

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Many of Jamaica’s gender equality framework initiatives continue to be boosted by

involvement from the international, regional and sub regional community through the

introduction of new and emerging areas on gender issues critical to gender equality. These

areas include globalization and trade, information and communication technologies (ICT), the

environment, and women, peace and security: National consultations around current trade

agreements now include significant contributions from the National Women’s Machinery,

women’s organizations, and other gender experts.

Constitutional, Legal, and Other Policy Frameworks

The Government of Jamaica engaged in a process of constitutional and legal reform, and

review processes for the inclusion of the international commitments and clauses that advance

gender equality and women’s empowerment. Namely – the Charter of Rights and Freedoms

(Constitutional Amendment Act 2011) ; the sexual offences Act (2009) which amalgamated

problem areas in the Against the Person Amendment Act and the Incest Punishment

Amendment Act) which now changes to the laws relating to rape, including marital rape and

incest and other sexual offences with a view to bringing the laws in Jamaica in line with

international conventions and modern legislative trends both in substantive and procedural

respects to protect women’s rights; Legal reform to criminalize the production, possession and

distribution in child pornography has also taken place.

Between 2008 and 2010, the Government of Jamaica met with the Advisory Group on Abortion

Policy Review and heard submissions from civil society and relevant public sector agencies and

technocrats regarding taking necessary steps to move forward the process on women’s sexual

and reproductive rights and to curb unwanted pregnancies, teenage pregnancies, pregnancies

resulting from rape and incest and to value women’s capacity to decide their reproductive fate.

Similarly, a Sexual Harassment Bill has been drafted to provide redress for women and men

against sexual violence in the workplace, educational institutions, and in places of

residency/accommodation. The draft bill document and the policy which preceded it was

influenced by the CARICOM Model Legislation on Sexual Harassment.

Jamaica’s newly developed National Gender Policy aims to promote gender equality and

women’s empowerment. The policy is supposed to serve as a guide for the development of

policies across sectors, as well as allows for projects and programmes to adopt a gender

equality approach. The Policy identifies critical areas for attention and assigns responsibilities

for implementation and was developed through a process of consultation with a national

stakeholder community of women, men, youth, and special interest groups It is anticipated that

the policy will allow a more comprehensive and coordinated approach to achieving gender

equality and women’s empowerment.

Challenges

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The shift from “Women in Development (WID)” to “Gender and Development (GAD)” and the

related conceptual context and distinction between them still remain incomprehensible to

many. As a result the process of mainstreaming gender as a strategy to achieve gender

equality and women’s empowerment is still challenging. In addition, gender is often mistakenly

seen as synonymous with ‘woman’ or ‘female’ and “male marginalization” and this misuse

continue to fuel a lot of the scepticism that exists around a gender and development approach

to achieving gender equality. Similarly, the focus on gender as an aspect of socially constructed

power relations has been subsumed under the now more popular understanding of gender as

“inviting men into the equation of analysis and programming”. The paradigm shift has also

placed an additional strain on the limited resources and expert capacities of the National

Women’s Machinery to review and refocus some of their programme of activities to

accommodate the gender and development mandate;

The introduction of the “male marginalization” concept continues to obscure the real situation

of women in terms of equality and empowerment. As a result it is now being suggested in some

quarters that there is no longer a need to focus on specifically addressing issues affecting

women even from women whom it appears give more attention to gender issues when any

economic and social dislocation affect men and boys. The challenge in this regard is how to be

continuously convincing about the necessity for specific programmes or projects targeting

women to redress the long term systemic discrimination against women which still exist; as

well as strategically address challenges that man and boys have as it relates to gang violence,

the small arms trade, criminal activity, men and boys as perpetrators of GBV, among others.

The global shift from WID to GAD has rise to the establishment of a men’s desk within the

National Women’s Machinery to enable serious analysis of the impact of development on men

and boys and to implement programmes that address their needs. On this basis another

challenge is how to improve the mainstreaming efforts by involving all groups of men in gender

mainstreaming partnerships with women.

Technocrats and policy-makers who have received gender training remain limited by weak

supporting institutional structures for the proper functioning of Gender Focal Points. Some

perception also prevails that gender is separate from regular routine work, lacks relevance,

and would mean extra resources. At the same time the reality is of a cash-strapped fiscal

budget where funding for this process is needed across a range of ministries and agencies to

assist in this type of capacity building. Nevertheless, it suggests a deficiency in Jamaica’s

Finance Ministry to seriously consider preparing gender responsive budgets as part of its

monetary/fiscal procedures despite international and regional finance entities moving in the

direction to introduce systems to ensure gender equality outcomes. There is a gap in

Macroeconomic policy prioritisation and marginalisation of social policy under which many

gender equality issues are still placed.

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The dominance of the IMF agreement, the heavy debt burden and consequent implications for

funding gender equality programmes and projects; implementing strategies from plans, among

other initiatives.

The legal review process remains slow in converting international commitments into national

law in the legislative environment.

Gender and Cultural Norms

Gender ideologies and normative social structures not only provide the basis for the

reproduction of sex-appropriate roles and relationships and the construct of masculinity and

femininity but also embody beliefs and attitudes, which underpin sex stratification and

ultimately, also determine access to material resources and differences in status, power and

privilege between women and men. This imbalance between the sexes in terms of both

material and non-material resources of power and status has long been acknowledged.

(Gender Sector Plan, 2010).

Culture… is… the whole complex of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual

and emotional features that characterize a society or a social group. It

includes not only arts and letters, but also modes of life, the fundamental

rights of the human being, value systems, traditions and beliefs. World

Conference on Cultural Policies (Mexico, 1982)

Expectations about attributes and behaviours appropriate to women or men and about the

relations between women and men (in other words, gender) are shaped by culture.

Gender identities and gender relations are critical aspects of culture because they shape

the way daily life is lived in the family, but also in the wider community and the workplace.

(Gender Sector Plan).

Essentially many of the gender inequalities and inequities persist because of culture which

undergirds prevailing beliefs, values and attitudes about roles and positions of men vis a

vis women. Many of these belief systems directly impact all areas of development and

hinder individual advancement and the overall development process. The issues Stated

below have impact in this regard. Gender Sector Plan

- Traditional gender socialization which reflects patriarchal notions of what it means to

be masculine and feminine - men as aggressive, public, unemotional, rational, made to

rule and be in control; women as passive, subordinate, private, emotional, irrational,

and born to be led. Whereas the socialization process begins in the home, the school is

an agent of social transmission which reproduces class and gender structures and

establishes the sexual division of labour.

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- The influence of popular culture and the media, mirror gender stereotypes and promote

hyper-masculinities and female objectification.

- The impact of globalization on hegemonic masculinities which is dislocating traditional

forms of labour primarily occupied by working class men. This dislocation of some

men has fuelled the view that all men are marginalized and masks the nuances of

intramale exploitation across class within the patriarchal system.

- A general culture of violence that says it is acceptable to hit women and that it is not a

‘public’ issue but rather a ‘private’ matter. A cultural perception of men that says that

men are ‘naturally’ violent, aggressive and rough; this stereotype hinders the rearing of

gentle, caring and nurturing men.

- A general culture that expresses a preference for male leadership or leadership as a

male affair; that men are better decision-makers and the perpetuation of women in the

private domain, men in the public domain.

- A general culture that sees sexuality in a negative light and emphasizes the

heterosexual norm with total intolerance for expressions of sexuality outside of that

norm. Within the heterosexual norm, multiple partnering among males is condoned

whereas similar behaviour among women is condemned by society.

- A culture which is embedded in the legal framework that conveys traditional gender

biases and has therefore discriminated against women and men. Only recently, attention

has been paid to removing these biases found in Offences against the persons Act,

Domestic Violence Act, Marriage and Property Ownership Act, etc. This affects protection

and granting of human rights.

- A culture of male authoritarianism expressed through some religious bodies and

justified by Holy Texts which promote the subordination of women by men as

something mandated by a Higher Being.

- A culture that resists female forms of leadership in public spaces (justified by holy

texts) as inadequate and unnatural and too different for consideration and

inclusion.

Culture and its influence on gender relations are not static and are continually being

renewed and reshaped. As with culture more generally, gender definitions change over

time. Cultural change occurs as communities and households respond to social and

economic shifts associated with globalization, new technologies, environmental pressures,

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armed conflict, development projects, and the realities of daily life. Change also results

from deliberate efforts to influence values through changes in the law or government

policy, often due to pressure from civil society. Examining gender-related cultural norms is

critical to the post-2015 agenda, critical to our transformation. Some norms should not

remain because it has also been so….but rather --- is it beneficial or who does it harm?

Work through the discomfort…..

New cultural definitions are formed through a process in which some segments of society

promote change through advocacy and example, while others resist it. Societies are not

homogeneous and no assumptions can be made about a consensus on “cultural values.”

Views on what is culturally acceptable are subjective and depend on the positions people

hold on the cultural direction of a society, what their own individual perceptions are and

what they believe should be subscribed for the benefit of society.

However, the cultural community is a diverse one and is often outside of the policy arena

where decisions take place. Therefore, cultural values are continually being reinterpreted

in response to new needs and conditions. Some values are reaffirmed in this process,

while others are challenged as no longer appropriate. Development initiatives (by

governments, NGOs or development agencies) are investments in promoting social,

political and economic change. Some development initiatives bring about

intended and unintended change in values and practices that shape social relations,

generally, and gender relations in particular. Some development models also incorporate

cultural values but more consideration may be given to the economic value than to the

cultural impact of the project.

Gaps

In general, in most countries in the region, there is sustained progress in the institutional

reforms oriented towards achieving gender equality, in accordance with the Beijing platform

and the signing of international agreements like the CEDAW. Although there have been

setbacks and general obstacles to the effective implementation of the laws (such as impunity

and the lack of financing, evaluation and compliance), these reforms represent an opportunity

to strengthen women’s rights. First and foremost, these reforms include constitutional

changes, the approval of laws to protect women, the creation of ministries or institutions for

women’s affairs, civil code modifications and the adoption of policies aimed toward gender

equality.

In spite of the advances and achievements of these goals, Latin America and the Caribbean

continues to be the region with the highest level of inequality in the world. Inequality directly

affects advances in education, health, access to employment, political participation and other

indicators. Gender inequalities cross-cut across any existing inequality based on income level,

place of origin, any type of disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and age. This is reflected in

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the fact that being a woman increases the impact of these inequalities on a person coupled

with the implicit nature of men’s dominance. In addition, the interrelation between gender

inequalities and their crossing with other inequalities such as those produced by ethnicity, age,

migratory status, place of birth or disability, sexual orientation, among others, increases the

barriers to the access to and enjoyment of rights. This is why one of the most important

challenges for the region is to address the inequality gaps and their inter-generational

replication.

Today, three years before reaching the deadline for achieving the Millennium Development

Goals, the region needs to accelerate and strengthen its efforts working with specific groups

that have been left behind because of unequal conditions. A post 2015 development

framework should addresses inequality and discrimination in a structural manner and focus

on areas of vulnerability and intersectionalities that in hitherto created discomforted.

Recognizing that gender inequality and discrimination occurs daily and is embedded

structurally means that we have to work through these discomforts question them; ask

whether or not keeping them results in lack of action in development and perpetuates harm.

The Way Forward

The Caribbean Joint Statement on Gender Equality and the Post 2015 and Small Island

Development States Agenda points us to these areas.

Gender equality and respect for women’s human rights should be central to the post 2015

development framework based on the recognition that gender equality is an essential pillar for

development, peace, security, and human rights. The best way to ensure this is to have a

specific objective on gender equality and the empowerment of women and mainstream gender

equality in the goals and indicators of all the other objectives.

The post 2015 development agenda should include clear accountability frameworks, including

mechanisms and incentives so that the decision makers work together with the civil society,

integrating the women’s organizations in order to define priorities and monitor advances.

Both the development process and the framework of the post-2015 agenda should follow a

rights-based approach, inclusive and participative. As key change agents, it is very important

that women’s voices are taken into account in this process. It is equally important the

implicitness of men and boys as gendered being needs to come to the fore to be able to

deconstruct challenges of the models of masculinity, as it relates to fathering, risk behaviours,

sexual responsibility, and performance in education, among others.

Mind the Gap please.... the doors are closing.