Caribbean Labour Markets: Potential of the CSME for Reducing Gender Disparities

• Author: Barbara Bailey and Dr. Heather Ricketts
• Profession: Professor
• Pages: 267-302

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Caribbean Labour Markets

Introduction

The West Indies Federation was established in 1958 with the intention of

fostering political union among its ten member territories; but it collapsed in

1962. A few countries subsequently made efforts to continue cooperation in

some areas as was envisaged under the federal arrangements, and accordingly

a Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) was set up in 1968. Its

objective was to encourage balanced development of the region - initially

through increasing, diversifying and liberalising trade and ensuring fair

competition among all member countries, and eventually through identifying

other areas such as education, legal affairs, shipping and air services, and

tourism for functional cooperation.1

The gaining of political independence during the 1960s by Caribbean

countries (particularly by Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago), the entry of

the United Kingdom into the European Union, and other political developments,

created mounting pressure on CARIFTA to strengthen existing areas of

cooperation as well as to expand into new areas. Heads of Government

meeting in Chaguaramas, Trinidad in 1972, took the decision to establish

more appropriate structures to deal with their emerging concerns and the

Treaty of Chaguaramas was signed in July 1973. This Treaty established the

Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM). In 1989 a decision

was taken to deepen further the integration movement to make it respond

more effectively to the demands and opportunities created by globalisation.

It was therefore agreed to establish the CARICOM Single Market and

Economy (CSME) and this was formally facilitated by a revision of the Treaty

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1Professor Barbara Bailey and Dr. Heather Ricketts

CARIBBEAN LABOUR MARKETS:

POTENTIAL OF THE CSME FOR

REDUCING GENDER DISPARITIES

268 CSME: Genesis and Prognosis

of Chaguaramas in 2001.

Whereas the primary focus under the original Treaty was on liberalising

trade in goods among member states, the Single Market and Economy aims

to expand this process to include services. It also provides for the free

movement of capital and of skilled labour, and for the freedom to establish

business enterprises in any member state of the Community, with each investor

being treated as a national of that state.

The major planks of the common market and economy therefore include:

1. Free movement of goods and services;

2. Right of establishment of CARICOM-owned businesses in any

Member State without restrictions and on the same terms as national

enterprises;

3. A Common External Tariff, that is, a rate of duty applied by all

members of the Single Market on entry of a product from a non-

member country;

4. Free circulation of goods imported from extra-regional sources

among Member States;

5. Free movement of capital;

6. A common trade policy on internal and international trade and a

coordinated external trade policy;

7. Free movement of labour through measures such as removal of work

permits, hassle-free travel, transfer of social security benefits,

harmonising social services, establishing common standards and

measures for accreditation and equivalency of qualifications and

skills.2

On January 1, 2006 the Caribbean Single Market (CSM) came into

effect and the symbolic signing of instruments took place in Kingston, Jamaica

on January 30 at the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies. The

Single Economy is expected to come into effect in 2008. Subsequent to the

official launch of the CSM and in preparation for the eventual establishment

of the CSE, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) was inaugurated on April

16, 2006 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. While the Revised Treaty

of Chaguaramas provides the legal basis for the operation of the CSME

matters regarding the legal interpretation of the Treaty will be addressed by

the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). The mission of the CCJ is to:

…….perform to the highest standards as the supreme judicial organ

in the Caribbean Community. In its original jurisdiction it ensures

uniform interpretation and application of the Revised Treaty of

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Caribbean Labour Markets

Chaguaramas, thereby underpinning and advancing the CARICOM

Single Market and Economy. As the final court of appeal for member

states of the Caribbean Community it fosters the development of an

indigenous Caribbean jurisprudence.3

Even as these structures and instruments are put in place and while

there is much discussion and planning at the level of governments of Member

States about arrangements under the Single Market and the Single Economy,

there is an admission that the average CARICOM national is quite unaware

of these momentous initiatives and the ways in which their day-to-day lives

could be dramatically changed for better or worse by the establishment of

these regional institutions and arrangements. Further, and of more critical

importance, is the fact that there has been little attention given to the gender

dimensions of these planned initiatives and the potential differential impact

on men/women and boys/girls throughout the region.

Two of the aims of the Caribbean Community as stated in the revised

Treaty of Chaguaramas are:

• Improved standards of living and work; and

• Full employment of labour and other factors of production;

accelerated…

This paper will assess the potential for arrangements under the agreement

for the free movement of labour to achieve these aims and thereby eliminate

existing gender disparities and gender vulnerabilities in Caribbean labour

markets.

Current Gender Concerns in Caribbean Labour Markets

Undoubtedly, within the last two decades, the Caribbean has witnessed

shifting patterns of labour market participation, particularly by females.

The period has also witnessed significant enrolment by females in higher

education programmes and by extension, substantially improved labour

market engagements including engagement in traditionally “male”

occupations. In spite of these generally positive trends, the pattern of

occupational and industrial sex segregation remains. On average across the

English-speaking Caribbean, females congregate in the services sector. In

engineering and technology disciplines, however, males continue to dominate.