The
Development Planning Unit
Government of the British Virgin Islands

The Status of Women
In the British Virgin Islands

5. WOMEN'S ACCESS TO AND PARTICIPATION IN THE DEFINITION OF ECONOMIC STRUCTURES AND POLICIES AND THE PRODUCTIVE PROCESS ITSELF

Interviews undertaken in preparation for this report revealed no inequality in women's access to financial assistance in the form of loans. In fact, according to a report from the Development Bank, women appeared to be quite comfortable in approaching their department for loans and fifty per cent of the loans which were disbursed have been to women. These loans are usually requested for house building and women are as compliant as men are in terms of the bank's regulations and repayment plans.

The Development Bank noted that although women appear to be quite confident and competent to request personal loans on their own, they were usually accompanied by a man when they approached the bank for a loan for a business venture. The Bank reported no gender bias in its decision on lending money. These decisions were made objectively and were based on the individual's perceived ability to repay the loan.

In one of the consultations leading up to this report, however, one woman noted that she was refused a loan because she was not accompanied by a man. No other documented or verbal information is available regarding the lending policies or the gender distribution of other bank loans in the BVI.

There is a strong financial sector in the BVI because of the presence of trust companies and a healthy tourism industry. No studies have been done to determine the level of women's participation in these sectors. However, if census figures which will follow in indicator # 6 on employment can be extrapolated, they demonstrate that women are to be found mainly as clerical workers, (78%), sales workers (60%) and service workers (63%) while men are largely found as administrators and managers (68%) and as professional/ technical workers (56%) (See Table 6:19). These data indicate that although women do participate in the financial sector, they are not usually the policy or decision makers.

There is an expressed need for women to be more involved in entrepreneurial projects. Workshops focusing on craft, management, entrepreneurship, marketing and personal development are needed to build women's perceptions of their ability to be successful entrepreneurs.

Women have established themselves as entrepreneurs in the sale of craft items. In this regard, they have set up several small shops in the craft village in Tortola where their inventory consists of T-shirts and souvenir items. However many problems have been identified which detract from the success potential of these ventures. These include:

1) Customs duties on raw material which are prohibitive;

2) The limited availability of local sources of raw material;

3)       The lack of storage space at the village which prohibits the vendors from stocking delicate craft work.

This means that they must transport their inventory to the village every day. As T-shirts are easy to transport these are the most prevalent items to be found at the craft village.

A craft association formed recently will most probably address itself to these issues.

The above report points to the need for greater attention to be focused on this area of entrepreneurial involvement by women and to the need to encourage them to diversify and become successful partners in the financial sector of the BVI.

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