Montevideo Consensus on Population & Development: Guyana preparing 2nd report with civil society stakeholders’ consultations

Guyana is presently preparing its second report for the United Nations Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development, with the consultative aspect of that preparation ongoing.
Consultations on the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development got underway at the Cara Lodge on Wednesday. During the consultation, the Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Ministry hosted civil society stakeholders.
It was explained by the Ministry in a subsequent statement that they were presently preparing Guyana’s second report on the consensus. As such, they have to engage key stakeholders in a participatory and inclusive way. The whole process is being supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
“The Ministry is currently in the process of preparing Guyana’s second report on the Consensus. This report is being composed through a participatory and inclusive approach, in which all key actors are being engaged through a series of consultations.

“State party reporting on the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development is one of the numerous human rights treaty reporting responsibilities of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance. This process is being further supported by UNFPA Guyana,” the Ministry added.
The Montevideo Consensus draws its name from the fact that the first regional conference on the Consensus was held in Montevideo, Uruguay in 2013. The Consensus was adopted by countries in Latin America and the Caribbean since then.
The Consensus is an agreement to prioritise various development areas from the perspective of the population. These areas include reaffirming Indigenous rights, increasing gender quality and eliminating gender-based violence.
Only last year, Guyana was favourably ranked on the Global Gender Gap Report 2022 produced by the Switzerland-based World Economic Forum, with the report listing Guyana at 35 out of 146 countries and second in the Caribbean for reducing gender inequality.
According to the report, Guyana received a score of 0.752. The report notes that Guyana’s score is a 0.024 improvement on its 2021 index score. Barbados, ranked at number 30 with a score of 0.765, was the only Caribbean country to be ranked above Guyana.
Meanwhile, Jamaica, which was ranked at 38 with a score of 0.749, was the next closest country. When it comes to the entire Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region, Guyana is ranked number six.
The report notes that in Guyana, men and women have near equal rights when it comes to access to financial services, as well as access to land and non-land assets. Meanwhile, there are equal rights to inheritances for widows and daughters.
When it comes to education and skills, there were only three categories where more men than women existed in the workforce. For instance, 38.2 per cent of the workforce in agriculture, forestry, fisheries and veterinary sciences are women, compared to 61.7 per cent men.
In Information and Communications Technology (ICT), 73 per cent of the workforce are men and 26.5 per cent, women. And in engineering, manufacturing and construction, 77.6 per cent of the workforce are men and 22.3 per cent, women.
However, in health and welfare, the report lists the workforce as 84.4 per cent women and 15.5 per cent men. In education, the workforce was listed as 88.5 per cent women and 11.4 per cent men. Business, administration and law had a 68.7 per cent female to 31.2 per cent male workforce, and in arts and humanities, the workforce was 89.6 per cent female and 10.3 per cent male.
The social sciences, journalism and information sectors meanwhile have a workforce that was 81.7 per cent female and 18.2 per cent male. And significantly less skewed was the natural sciences, mathematics and statistics sector, with 53.3 per cent of the workforce female and 46.6 per cent male. (G3)