Beginnings Issue 8.pub - Planning Institute of Jamaica

P a g e 8 B eginnings I s s u e 8
“Measuring Gender Equality…”
(Continued from page 7)
38% for males. Since the mastery of the English Language
forms the basis for achievement in many other subjects
(and University matriculation), this is a worrisome trend.
It is fairly well researched [Chevannes (1999, 2001), and
Parry (1996)] that the early socializing patterns of “male
privilege” (meaning being raised with greater freedom and
less supervision, fewer home responsibilities) along with
the opposite conditions for females, contribute to
perceived patterns of greater compliance by girls with
school expectations (following orders, routines,
completing work), and thus produce better academic
results for the females, and lower academic results and a
weaker sense of social responsibility for the males.
Some writers on gender and education (eg. Bailey,
Ricketts, Evans, Parry, Chevannes) express concern for
the under-participation and under-achievement of boys in
the education system. Gender socialization as pointed out
earlier, along with the treatment of boys by teachers, and
the culture of portraying boys as soft or nerdish when
they perform well in school, are some of the reasons that
have been given. The cultural environment in which
unequal gender relations persist often create a backlash on
both females and males. This is so, to the point where the
understandable preoccupation of male underperformance
and under achievement in the education system, often
nullifies the challenges that females continue to face.
Concentrating on the share of female labour participation
in the non-agricultural sector is useful. However other
related issues that could be considered - such as,
occupational sex-segregation, wage differentials, decent
work conditions, unemployment and work in a largely
unregulated informal sector – are not. Therefore, in spite
of relatively high levels of educational attainment and the
improved quality of female employment as professionals,
senior officials and managers, gender inequality persists
with lower female labour participation, and high-level
employment in low end occupations and concentration in
traditional “female” occupational groups. An ECLAC
Report (2001) points out that:
[a] closer examination of the patterns of female achievement
within the education system suggests strongly that the
pattern of segregation evident in subject selection has
had the effect of maintaining the unequal and inequitable
division of labour in the home and in the workplace (p. 5).
In Jamaica, Labour force statistics indicate that 68.2% of the female
employed labour force are clustered in categories which for the most
part attract a minimum wage (clerks, service workers, shop and
market sales and elementary occupations). On the other hand,
although the number of women in the ‘Professionals, Senior
Officials and Technicians’, the highest occupational group, has been
steadily increasing and in 2001 represented 21.64% of all employed
women, this grouping includes teachers and nurses; occupations
which although not lower-skilled are under-valued in terms of social
status and, therefore, are accorded low levels of remuneration
compared with other professions in this grouping. Data also indicate
that within this category there is status stratification with women
over-represented in the lower strata and markedly absent from
decision-making positions (Ricketts & Benfield 2000).
In relation to using the proportion of seats in national parliaments as
an indicator of agency, Grown et al (2003) argue that this not a
sufficient measurement for tracking levels of female empowerment.
They posit that this indicator says nothing about whether women
have power to make decisions or whether or not such women are
sensitive to gender issues and can promote a gender equality
legislative agenda. They note that it might be more useful to track
progress that women make at the local level because it is at the
municipal and local level rather than in national elections that women
have been making inroads.
The indicators identified in relation to Goal 3 for measuring
progress towards gender equality and women’s empowerment
represent all three domains (capabilities, opportunities and agency)
but, as Grown, Gupta and Khan (2003) point out, progress in any
one domain to the exclusion of others is insufficient to meet the goal
of gender equality. They point to the fact that, as is the case in the
Caribbean:
(E)ven though education provides women with an essential capability
and has intrinsic value, gender equality and the empowerment of
women can remain elusive goals without the opportunity to fully use
that capability, for example, in employment, or by participating in
decision making in the political arena. (p. 7)
Forty indicators are used as part of the UN Development Assistance
Framework (UNDAF) to guide common country assessments in
countries such as Jamaica, in which UN development cooperation
takes place. Gender equality and women’s empowerment are also
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