Once again, as we have been doing unofficially for over a century and officially since 1967 under the auspices of the United Nations, we are commemorating “International Women’s Day”. Apart from “celebrating” the achievements of women in all spheres of human endeavour, because of the realities in every country of the world, there are inevitably exhortations for accelerating “gender parity”. Whatever women have achieved has come in spite of, not because of, present structures in our societies.
For instance, starting in Ancient Greece, the “cradle of democracy”, women were on par with slaves, bereft of the right to participate in decision-making of the city states. This status was only grudgingly changed in the “progressive” West after WWI, following a long and contentious suffragette struggle.
As is usual, there is a “theme” announced annually and for 2021 it is “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world.” A United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) release offers a good snapshot of the status of women today, and the rationale for the theme: “This year’s International Women’s Day is like no other. As countries and communities start to slowly recover from a devastating pandemic, we have the chance to finally end the exclusion and marginalisation of women and girls. But to do that, we need immediate action. Women must have the opportunity to play a full role in shaping the pivotal decisions being made right now as countries respond to and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic – choices that will affect the well-being of people and the planet for generations to come.
“To do this, we must break down the deep-seated historic, cultural, and socio-economic barriers that prevent women from taking their seat at the decision-making table to make sure that resources and power are more equitably distributed. For instance, across the world, women remain concentrated in the lowest paid jobs, many in extremely vulnerable forms of employment. Women are nearly twice as likely than men to lose their jobs during the COVID-19 crisis. Indeed, the pandemic will dramatically increase the poverty rate for women and widen the gap between men and women who live in poverty.
“The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is working with countries across the globe to address these inequalities. Our eye-opening new policy brief (sic) explores how a Temporary Basic Income for women in developing countries could provide part of the solution. UNDP argues that a worthwhile monthly investment of 0.07 per cent of developing countries’ GDP could help 613 million working-aged women living in poverty to absorb the shock of the pandemic. It would also contribute to the economic security and independence that is necessary for women to engage more deeply in the decisions that could change their future.”
We are not in the least sanguine about the latter proposal since even in the developed countries like the US, initiatives for increasing the minimum wage for all workers – much less women alone – have foundered. In our estimation, there needs to be a fundamental paradigm shift in how “women’s work” in the home is evaluated and valued before women at long last will enjoy some sort of equity in their lives. No one really questions the premise that only work outside of the home has a price – while work inside the home, overwhelmingly performed by women, is given lip-service “value” but no monetary compensation, which is what ultimately confers “value” in the world.
In addition to increasing “women in leadership”, there is need for a more vigorous, effective and sustained campaign against violence against women and females in general in Guyana. We must begin with our “law and order” institutions: the law to explicitly define stiffer – even draconian – sanctions against perpetrators of violence against females, and the Police and Judiciary to ensure the law is observed. There has been too much talk and too little action on this subject.
Women will have to agitate for these changes since the status quo never changes without struggle.
