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Plans> The Status of Women in the British Virgin Islands |
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The Status of
Women INTRODUCTION WOMAN You don’t want to continue From: Women’s Letter from Basal, Nr. 15, June 1992 "Each and every advance in women's rights has meant a gain for all
humanity. As we move closer to the twenty-first century one would like to assume that it is.becoming easier for women to defend their rights, as society has learnt to recognize the truism that women are indeed the ones who have traditionally been ultimately responsible for the family. We have come to an agreement on the statement that the family is a microcosm of society and as such not only mirrors what goes on in society but, actually determines the course of social events and socialization. Hence the role of the family is a crucial determinant of development at every level. We have also agreed that the challenges faced by the family today are unprecedented in history. Themes like 'The Family in Crisis' 'Stress in the Family', 'Men at Risk' 'The Breakdown of the Family' have created headlines for newspapers and magazines, book titles and the topics for many symposia. Mounting concern has led to the UN Declaration of this year 1994 as the International Year of Family. It is also no coincidence that discussions on the environment which are predominant in the global consciousness at this time are also focusing on gender and family perspectives. In fact, Murray Booklin (1992) boldly stated the following affirmation:
In spite of the foregoing it remains glaringly apparent that women continue to be severely underrepresented in all strata and circumstance of society which have implications for national development and policy-planning. Women's protests at these inequities have prompted the United Nations to mandate that the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women be ratified by member nations. Margarita Arias (1991) commented on what appears to be the obvious but is, in reality, still a goal to be worked towards:
The International Decade of Women from 1975 to 1985 was the consequence of increasing international concern on the status of women. Although it was found that "Ten Years was not Enough", the decade did serve as an impetus for a shift in focus. It was realized that one could not assume that in developing the human resource, women would also be beneficiaries. In fact, the converse seemed to be the case in that others, especially men, were being developed at the expense of women. Women's needs and subsequently those of the family were seldom prioritized. During the Decade of Women, and in its aftermath, many organizations, whose membership is drawn from women, communities, churches, academic and professional circles, have convened in conferences to stimulate dialogue on issues which affect women and to devise strategies which would ensure the increased involvement of women in developmental programmes. Resolutions and strategies coming out of these symposia have unilaterally demanded women's input in the development of any local, regional and international policies which affect them even if the policies themselves are not gender-specific. One such treaty is the NGO Treaty on Population, Environment and Development which was produced after deliberations at the NGO Forum at the Earth Summit in Rio. The Preamble of that treaty states that:
Women have also had to insist that there be a systematic integration of a gender perspective in policy-making and programme implementation in all areas and at all levels and that accountability for this inclusion, strategizing and implementation be the responsibility of both sexes. The tendency to negatively correlate the increase in the social ills in contemporary society with the slow improvements in women's conditions, thus attributing blame to women, also points to the need for careful monitoring and dialogue. Women have ensured that they are well represented at all international and regional conferences, both governmental and non-governmental. We have learnt that in order to preserve the little progress we have made and to ensure that we continue to gain ground, no matter how relatively insignificant that progress might appear to be, we have got to be indefatigably visible. Changes at the global level have had mainly negative and few positive impacts on the women of the Caribbean region. Unquestionably, most of these changes have meant a decrease in the financial resources of the region and as women continue to be at the low end of the continuum, both in terms of their access to national resources and in terms of the allocation of those resources, they have been seriously affected. Women in the BVI with their unique dual affiliations politically to Great Britain and nominally, physically and financially (through their legal currency) to the United States Virgin Islands have been affected by changes on several levels. The status of the country has left it relatively insulated from the financial setbacks experienced by its political counterparts, the other British Dependent Territories (BDT's). In fact while other BDT's have suffered the BV~I appears to have flourished and during the 1970's the BVI began to be viewed as the mecca of the Caribbean. This perception which led to the immigration of nationals from other Caribbean countries and from North America has created a unique brand of challenges for women. Or. Joycelin Massiah , Regional Programme Adviser of UNIFEM'S Caribbean office was asked to prepare a presentation on the situation of Women from the global perspective for a Consultation held in Dominica September 1993 in preparation for the 1995 UN WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN. Ms Sonia T. Harris, Senior. Programme Officer Women in Development at the Caricom Secretariat was also asked to prepare a report on The Situation of Women in The Caribbean for the same consultation. The information reviewed here will draw heavily on those sources as these two informed women are better placed than most to present the most appropriate perspectives as they relate to women. The fall of the Soviet Empire and the end of the Cold War has created a wave of social changes which has led to an escalation of wars and political oppression. These events plus the effects of natural disasters and economic problems have increased the refugee population to over fifteen (15) million, of which about seventy-five (75) per cent are women and children. Funds have had to be allocated to provide relief aid which has meant that funds available for development work have been significantly reduced. The trend towards free markets, deregulation and the adoption of structural adjustment policies have affected the economic vulnerability of the Caribbean region. There has been a rise in unemployment, increases in inflation which have coincided with wage freezes, and serious reductions in social services. There have been increased opportunities for self employment and employment in free zone areas, but while these more favourable impacts have not been enough to offset the negative impacts they have also created hazards of their own. Needless to say, the people who have been affected most by these challenges are women and as Joycelin Massiah has pointed out "many of these economic difficulties in which women in these territories find themselves are directly linked to decisions and philosophies and power relations on the international level." Networking among major corporations, the development of trading blocks, and reductions in demand for the type of basic commodities produced by the Caribbean has also negatively impacted the economic resources of the region. Attempts by the Caribbean community to offset these effects by establishing a CARICOM Single Market and Economy which would facilitate the free movement of goods, services, capital and labour will help to increase the competitiveness of the region. However, as many women are not engaged in export marketing, women will not generally benefit from this initiative. For the BVI where the lucrative economy has been "import' in nature both in terms of its importation of finance through its offshore banking facilities and its importation of people through the tourism economy, the opportunities presented by the CARICOM community have not been relevant. The import oriented economy has also been administered mainly by men and women have benefitted chiefly through their involvement as service people. The practical implications of these financial restructurings has been an overall reduction in development aid, grants and loans as scarce resources have been reallocated based on the new priorities of the funding agencies. Developing countries in the South including the Caribbean area are being seen as less needy than the fledgling nations in Europe. This has meant that women's concerns which bad, at best, received only minimal attention were now seriously under served. Structural adjustment programmes, which have been one of the ways in which the Caribbean region has responded to the economic challenges, have "created both opportunities and problems for people of the region" (Sonja T. Harris, 1993). Negative impacts have included drastic reductions in the financing of health care, education and social services, depreciation in national currencies, inflation, public sector layoffs and wage freezes. With the emergence of HIVIAIDS and the re-emergence of infectious diseases like tuberculosis, the paucity of the economic base has been an increasing source of concern. Fortunately this concern has promoted greater collaboration among institutions and individuals to address the health needs of women and society in general. Women, of course, have borne the brunt of most of these negative impacts because of their caretaking role in the family. Fortunately there has been some amelioration of the impacts as Sonja Harris notes:
On the regional level, social issues including the increase in violence against women, the crisis of substance abuse with the accompanying increase in crime, and the increase in unemployment are all affecting the Caribbean family structure and the roles women and men play in the socialization process. Women continue to perform the functions which are vital for the nurturing of the family in an atmosphere which is generally not conducive to their own development. Males in society are themselves beginning to express concerns about their status in the face of poorer performance levels of high school boys and young male workers and negative attitudes which seem to point to self identification difficulties.
Social issues for women in the BVI have the added dimensions of 'separation' and 'alienation' as the immigrant women have often been forced to leave their families behind either because they felt that it was easier to fend for themselves and remit their finances to their homeland or because BVI immigration policies prohibited them from bringing their families with them. The BVI, although not feeling the direct financial pinch of structural adjustment programmes, has felt the sociological effects brought to bear on a society which is fifty per cent expatriate and still continues to absorb those who "cannot make it" in their own deprived societies because of these financial constraints. Human resource development is a concept which is receiving greater attention in the region. Women continue to be restricted in their access to the region's resources and benefits. In an attempt to create more balance the CARICOM Secretariat is promoting the development of National Policy Statements on Women. The majority of CARICOM's member states have now produced these, although some of the BDT's have not yet done so. In order to protect women's human and legal rights, the CARICOM Secretariat, assisted by NGO'S and professionals, has developed eight pieces of model legislation. These models have been written in gender neutral language and therefore protect the rights of men as well if they find themselves in similar circumstances. (Harris, 1993) These models include The Domestic Violence Act, The Sexual Offenses Act, The Sexual Harassment Act, Inheritance, Citizenship, Equal Pay for Equal Work, Equal Opportunity and Treatment in Employment, and Maintenance - including reciprocal agreements between countries. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women has been ratified by some countries since 1990. Recalcitrant countries need to address this as a matter of urgency. The Convention has been extended to the BVI, but whether it has been ratified is unclear. The laws of the BVI which will be discussed later in this document will clearly demonstrate the need for the women of the territory to ensure that the legalized, institutionalized and social forms of discrimination which are a part of their everyday experience are reformed.
Women's health concerns rank high on the list of priorities for women in the region. Unfortunately, women are not usually the ones who dictate the policies governing the allocation of resources or even legislation regarding their health. Numerous conferences have been held, regionally and internationally, in order to provide women with opportunities for deliberation and action planning. In fact, the NGO TREATY ON POPULATION, ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT (1992) encapsulated the major thrust of their demands in the following statement:
The absence of women among the elected representatives of the BVI and the presence of only one appointed female in the legislative and executive councils means that women have little or no say in determining policies which affect their bodies and their lives. In the entire Caribbean there continues to be discrimination, whether it be legal or socialized regarding the rights of the school-aged girl and boy to continued education after childbirth of pregnancy. While boys are allowed to continue their education, girls are ostracized. The education and training choices of males and females indicate that while men are choosing the technical and more highly paid jobs, women are choosing the social and lower paid jobs. The question of competence, aptitude, or eligibility does not qualify as the deciding factor, because more females than males are noted to attend and complete secondary and tertiary education. Hence there appears to be socialization factors which predicate the choices. The low value which is placed on the work women do at home or in the workplace also provides them with less economic and position power. Paragraph 120 of "Forward looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women" which was ratified by the United Nations in 1985 at the World Conference of the UN Decade for Women in Nairobi, speaks to this in the following statement:
This paragraph has been included in 'A Petition For All Women To All Governments - Women Count - Count Women's Work' which was issued by International Wages For Housework Campaign and International Black Women for Wages for Housework, (London). Nursing has been cited as an area of work which is predominantly serviced by women and which has received so little recognition that the consequent drastic decreases in labour power threaten the delivery of health services, locally, regionally, and internationally. Exploitation of women in the workplace include sexual harassment. Some women are not aware of what constitutes sexual harassment and what their response should be. The American media, (pervasive in the Caribbean) in all its forms has contributed to the sexual exploitation of women. There is, however, presently a wave of consciousness (one of the effects of the women's movement) which is creating pressures against this form of sexual exploitation. The abuse of women and children in prostitution and pornography, however, continues to a concern. George lamming (Anguilla, 1994) created an interesting analogy when he referred to the tourism industry as PLANTATION PHASE 11. He went on to refer to hotels as 'service stations" where we train people to serve those who pay for the services. The workers who usually receive the lowest remuneration in these "service stations' are women and so here again the discrimination is evident. Even the church as a social structure is discriminatory in its relationship with women. Women have been held captive for too long by the patriarchal structures and mentalities represented by church authorities and society. These have served to justify oppression and 'violence against women's minds, bodies, and spirits' (Parvey, 199 ).Women are currently working at affirming their equality in God and Christ and at gaining visibility in the Bible. There is a move towards creating gender inclusive language in church services and in the Bible itself. However, recent opposition towards the ordination of female priests shows that the resistance of centuries will prove to be a serious deterrent to women's acceptance as equals in Christ. Women have long appreciated the fact that in order to influence the decisions which determine the nature of their existence they must become involved in the political process. However, women continue to be underrepresented in regional and international parliaments. The shift in this area will not occur spontaneously. On the contrary, the process must be carefully planned:
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