Statement by Stephannie Hutchinson-Ffrench

to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) on the fifth periodic report from the government of Jamaica

7 th August 2006

Thank you Madam Chair for giving me the opportunity to address the Committee. I am Stephannie Hutchinson-Ffrench from the Women’s Resource and Outreach Centre (WROC). We work mainly with rural and inner-city urban women. I would like to raise one (1) critical area of systemic discrimination against women that still requires the attention of the Jamaican government in order to reduce its negative impact. Our submission is that Article 5 – stereotyping of gender roles is the cornerstone for most of the overt and subtle forms of discrimination being faced by Jamaican women. The cultural and institutional stereotyping of gender roles affects not only Article 5 but also Articles 6, 7, 11, 12 and 14.

Article 6 [transactional sex]: transactional sex is based on the power dynamics that rely on cultural gender stereotyping of the man’s economic power in exchange for sexual favours from a woman.

Article 7 [political life and public life] – In 2002 10% of elected parliamentarians were women and in 2003 12% were elected as local government Councillors. Women are expected to bear the responsibility of family life and this oftentimes will clash with the demands of political and public life, additionally as indicated in the Shadow Report page 16, women yield power to men in an effort to have a less contentious life.

Article 11 [employment] Young girls who grow up believing that they should aspire for jobs that are ladylike limit their training and eventually their job opportunities.

Article 12 [health care and family planning] – women are expected to ‘have their lot’ and in some communities women are expected to begin child bearing at very young ages and a man expects to have more than one woman which has serious implications for the rate of HIV/AIDS among women.

Article 14 [rural women] – Rural women bear the burden of securing water for household use which involves many hours of walking or taking transportation to and from the water source. This will either reduce the hours in which the woman can be gainfully employed or will further lengthen her days much longer than her male family member.

Article 16 [marriage and the law] The belief that a man has every right to a woman because she is his wife entrenches the notion that there is no such thing as rape in a marriage.

In closing, it is therefore our recommendation that the government urgently begins a public education aimed at improving values and attitudes and eliminate believed gender stereotypes. Once again, thank you Madam Chair for this opportunity to speak.

This page was last updated on September 18, 2006

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