Quotas crucial to righting scale of gender imbalance

By Linnette Vassell, Guest Columnist

THE GLEANER'S Letter of the Day, published on Friday, April 26, 2013, by Mr Michael A. Dingwall, has given some small indication that the public-service announcements being kindly aired by some media houses are drawing some attention to the call for quotas.

This campaign by the 51% Coalition - Women in Partnership for Development and Empowerment - is calling for voluntary and/or legislative quotas to be implemented.

The demand is for all public-sector boards and commissions and boards of private-sector companies (especially those on the stock exchange) be composed of no more than 60 per cent and no less than 40 per cent of either sex.

The writer, while correctly asserting that the call for quotas might be linked to addressing some social ill, goes on to say that there are no problems regarding opportunities for women and uses education to make his claim. I hope he would agree that often at great personal and family sacrifice, women make great effort to improve ourselves.

MORE QUALIFIED FEMALES

One result is that the data show that females in the labour force are more qualified than their male counterparts with the percentage of females with degrees (18.3 per cent) more than twice the percentage of males (8.3 per cent), according to the 2010-2011 Labour Force Survey by STATIN.

These data also show that while a little over half (53 per cent) of the female labour force has no academic qualification, nearly three-quarters (71 per cent) of males were in this situation. Yet, the unemployment rate among females was in 2011 almost twice (16.9 per cent) that among males (9.4%).

Yet, although more qualified, data from an Inter-American Development Bank 2010 study on Jamaica and Barbados showed that females in the Jamaican labour force, on average, earn some 12.5 per cent less than males.

When we look at these facts as well as the gender segregation in occupations and industries in the labour market, it is clear that contrary to your writer's assertion, education is no equaliser for women, and gender discrimination in the labour market, as in other areas such as politics, is alive.

LESSON FROM THE PAST

Let's not forget a lesson of the past: a quota system imposed by Minister of Education Edwin Allen in the late '50s and early '60s reserved for primary-school children 70 per cent of the grant in aid places in secondary schools, with 30 per cent reserved for children from preparatory schools. This was a big step towards opening access to secondary education to generations of children of the poorer classes. (Effective access of the poor is still an unfinished agenda).

Quotas for women in decision-making are recommended by the United Nations, the World Bank and other multilateral institutions as an important temporary special measure to bring women at the table of decision-making in the politics, the economy and all areas of life.

Implementing quotas is a matter of securing human rights, good governance and deepening democracy - all vital pillars for promoting growth with equity in our country. It is a step forward not only for women but for children and our men - the whole community and nation.

We need the support of fair-minded and thinking men and women.

Linnette S. Vassell is a gender specialist. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and l.davisvassell@gmail.com.