Review of Institutional Mechanisms for the Advancement of Women and for Achieving Gender Equality 1995-2000

• Author: Sonja T. Harris
• Pages: 178-200

178 Sonja T. Harris

INTRODUCTION

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat, as part of its activities

for the United Nations mid decade review of performance by governments

with regard to implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for

Action, decided to undertake an assessment of the Status of Women in

CARICOM five years after the Beijing Conference on Women in 1995.

This component of the assessment will examine – Institutional Mechanisms

for the Advancement of Women and for Achieving Gender Equality – from the

position of:

i) Changes which have occurred in the thematic areas prioritised in the

Caribbean

ii) Good/best practices in the implementation process

iii) Obstacles and lessons learned in that process

iv) Impact of practices on the status of women

The thematic areas to which institutional mechanisms relate include:

Power and Decision-Making, Education, Violence against Women, Poverty

and The Economy and Health.

It should be noted that in the five-year period under review, Suriname

joined the Caribbean Community grouping in 1995 and by 2000, Haiti

had become a provisional member.

Review of Institutional Mechanisms for the Advancement

of Women and for Achieving Gender Equality

Sonja T. Harris

SIX

Institutional Mechanisms for the Advancement of Women 179

Fifteen country reports submitted to the United Nations on ‘The

Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action’, (2000); visits to five

countries in the sub-region on behalf of a study on ‘Gender Mainstreaming’

by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the

Caribbean (1999); and personal involvement in gender mainstreaming

studies and strategies in the region, formed the basis of information for

this assignment.

Reports were not received from Haiti, the newest member of the

Caribbean Community, St Kitts and Nevis, which piloted the Gender

Management System (supported by Commonwealth Secretariat) and

Montserrat, which is still at the early stages of rebuilding its economy and

social structure after the 1995 volcanic eruption.

These primary and secondary sources of data indicate that the five-year

period, 1995-2000, can be assessed using the following indicators:

•Changes in conceptual framework

•Elements of good practice

•Obstacles to progress

•Impact on women’s status

a) Changes in Conceptual Framework

From observation, the Women in Development (WID) and now Gender

and Development (GAD) industry was first developed outside of a theoretical

base which was uniquely Caribbean and was managed by personnel with

varying degrees of expertise depending on country interpretations and

imperatives. Over time, however, a body of knowledge has been amassed,

both nationally and regionally, within organisations such as WAND,

CARICOM Secretariat, UNECLAC and the Centre for Gender and

Development Studies. Support from external development agencies has

kept programmes on women’s advancement and gender equality in focus.

The challenge has been, and remains, that of shaping a conceptual

framework that has indigenous as well as external influences in its formation.

While regional mechanisms – especially leading up to and following the

Fourth World Conference on Women – have facilitated the Caribbean

country focus on issues, support to national machineries on programming

methodology and required institutional mechanisms has been fragmented

and not standardised.