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inequality at the highest level of decision makingpersists, despite Jamaican women having attaineduniversal adult suffrage and the right to vote in1944. In 2013, females are 51% of the population,but only 13% of members of parliament are women,and 20% of government ministers. 12 Jamaica alsohas a female prime minister. Portia Simpson-Millerfirst served as prime minister from March 2006 toSeptember 2007, and was then re-elected and tookoffice on 5 January 2012. While she is publicly verysupportive of household workers and women ingeneral, gender inequality in the system of governanceand in political and public leadership meansthat the process of institutional change is slow,hence the need to use ICTs to accelerate advocacyto address structural gender inequalities.Many household workers are single female headsof their families. They are among the poorest quintilein the population. They are at higher risk of povertyand face increased economic hardships associatedwith Jamaica’s structural adjustment programme newlynegotiated with the International Monetary Fund.Impending layoffs in the public and private sector willin turn negatively impact employment levels of householdworkers as their employers are mainly middleand upper class employees who, if retrenched, areless likely to be able to afford their services.Poverty is a problem not only for Jamaican householdworkers but also for the ILO-estimated 53.5million domestic employees worldwide, one fifth ofwhom work in Latin America and the Caribbean. In2011, Jamaican household workers earned an averagewage equivalent to USD 50 per week, accordingto a pilot survey of domestic workers conducted forthe ILO Caribbean Office. 13 Not surprisingly, the majorityof household workers consulted in that studyreported that they were unable to cover their basicfamily expenses. Their low socioeconomic profilewould also explain their low level of access to anduse of ICTs reported by Dunn et al. 14 and the ITU. 15Members of the JHWU, therefore, depend on theirmobile phones to lobby for decent work and the Jamaicangovernment’s ratification of C189.Household workers’ interest in ICTsIn response to JHWU members’ expressed interestin learning computer skills to enhance theirdevelopment, the union is establishing a training12 World Economic Forum (2012) Op cit.13 The 2011 minimum wage was equivalent to USD 50 per week fora 40-hour work week at an exchange rate of JMD 90 per USD 1.The National Minimum Wage Order of 25 July 2012 established anincrease from JMD 4,500 to JMD 5,000.14 Dunn et al. (2011) Op. cit.15 ITU (2010) Op. cit.institute which includes training members to acquirecomputer skills. The union’s recent acquisitionof a computer and internet access in their Kingstonoffice has facilitated increased access to national,regional and international partners and broadenedoptions for advocacy and organising members. Havingincreased membership to over 2,000 womenand established 11 chapters island-wide, using mobilephones, the expectation is that with increasedaccess to and use of the internet and other ICT platformsthe union will over time be able to reach andregister the estimated 100,000 household workersin the country. If successful, the JHWU would becomethe largest trade union in Jamaica. This wasthe view of noted trade unionist Dwight Nelson,now lecturer at the Hugh Lawson Shearer Trade UnionEducation Institute at UWI’s Mona campus. Hemade the point while delivering training in tradeunionism at three capacity-building workshops forJHWU members held across Jamaica in May andJune 2013. This was part of a UN Women-fundedproject with the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.JHWU parish organisers used their mobilephones to mobilise members in the rural parishes ofPortland and St. Elizabeth and in the urban centresof Kingston and St. Andrew. 16The Jamaican government’s accelerated implementationof ICT policy will result in improvedaccess for the majority of citizens to technologyplatforms. This will have several direct economicand social benefits to household workers. Impactsin the short term can include improved capacity forthe JHWU and its members to communicate witheach other and with other stakeholders via emailand a JHWU website for advocacy campaigns. In themedium to long term, impacts can include improvedaccess to online education, training and certificationfor members, enabling them to access morediverse and more highly skilled and paid jobs.An important example of the digital dividewith gender and class providing differential accessto and use of ICTs was evident in the currentcampaign to build awareness of C189 amongstakeholders in Jamaica. In June 2013, a sensitisationworkshop was organised for employers inpartnership with the Jamaica Employers Federation(JEF). JHWU members at the low end of the ICTspectrum depended mainly on mobile phones toorganise events. JEF members, mainly from middleand upper class backgrounds, were at the higher16 The workshops for JHWU members were part of a project fundedby UN Women with the Ministry of Labour and Social Security andimplemented by the UWI’s Institute for Gender and DevelopmentStudies Mona Unit.148 / Global Information Society Watch