The Tribune

By ALICIA WALLACE

THE latest ridiculous statement by the prime minister quickly made the rounds at the end of last week, drawing responses indicative of disbelief, annoyance, and confusion. Gender inequality widely recognised as an issue affecting women and girls all over the world. The conversation about the need for gender equality and the actions required to achieve it are not only taking place in The Bahamas. They are happening across the Caribbean region, and they are happening in every region. No country has achieved gender equality, and every country is aware that it is a goal we all need to work toward.

The Sustainable Development Goals were adopted in September 2015 by all United Nations Member States. The 17 goals include ending poverty, ending hunger, achieving gender equality, access to clean water and sanitation for all, reduced inequalities, responsible consumption and production, and climate action. Goal 5 is to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

Goal 5 on gender equality has five targets:

5.1 End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere.

5.2 Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation.

5.3 Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation.

5.4 Recognise and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate.

5.5 Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life.

5.6 Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences.

5.a Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws.

5.b Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women.

5.c Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels.

Targets 5.1 and 5.2 have featured prominently in the news for decades. In particular, since the constitutional referendum was announced in 2014, there has been attention to gender inequality in nationality law in addition to sex-and gender-based discrimination. Marital rape has come up, again and again, since the bill to criminalise it in 2009. We are not unaware of these issues. Some of us are, however, unaware of the far reaching affects of these and other forms of discrimination and the obligation of the government to eliminate them. Successive administrations have failed to educate the public on human rights, women’s rights, gender equality, commitments made in international spaces, the connection between systemic issues and lived realities, and the work that needs to be done to uphold human rights and, at the very least, move toward gender equality. That alone is a clear sign that they were not committed to undertaking the work required.

Violence against women has been just as prominent in the news, from domestic violence which often extends into public spaces to sexual violence occurring all over New Providence at all times of day. Target 5.2 specifically includes both the public and private spheres, making the important point that there is no excuse for violence against women and girls, failure to prevent violence against women and girls, or absence of legal recourse for women and girls who have experienced violence, regardless of where it takes place or who is involved.

At the current rate, it will take 286 years to remove discriminatory laws and close gaps in legal protection all over the world. The Bahamas does not have to be a country that takes 286, 250, 175, 50, or 15 years to make the necessary constitutional and legislative changes. The issues have already been identified. Research has been conducted, necessary actions have been named, and examples have been set. The follow-through on commitments has been non-existent.

Every now and then, we get a glimpse into the minds of elected representatives. They make statements that let us know, much more clearly than they ever do when asked directly, exactly what they think of us and how unmotivated they are to do what they are being paid to do. In response to the human rights report on The Bahamas by the US, which referenced discrimination against women, the prime minister indicated his complete indifference to the plight of Bahamian women. He laid bare his refusal to acknowledge gender inequality in The Bahamas or the importance of achieving gender equality.

“You have to look through the perspective of our eyes.” By this, the prime minister likely meant that we need to consider the opinions of men on gender inequality and its affect on women. Why? Why should we ever prioritise the opinions of the people who benefit from the oppression and discrimination that we, women, experience? Why would any entity engaged in monitoring and assessing issues of gender prioritise the way men think about the injustice? There is certainly a place for those opinions — in research on the perception of people of different genders on gender (in)equality and research that uses these perceptions to make determinations about gender ideology, human rights literacy, and the pervasiveness of oppressive systems.

“Bahamian women being unfairly treated in The Bahamas? Y’all ruling us, man.” In this part of the statement, the prime minister panders to the men he referenced, who do not believe, or want us to think they do not believe, that gender inequality exists. The men decide to focus one area, separate from any connected areas or rationales. They look at women’s and girls’ levels of education and use them as the sole basis of a flawed argument that women and girls are equal or, as is more commonly suggested, women and girls are doing better than men and boys. They then try to convince us that men and boys are “in trouble” and this means that women and girls and the discrimination we face should not be where we put our attention.

They do not consider that women and girls have been taught and pushed to excel in school and keep reaching higher and higher, depending on degrees to elevate us by proving to people, especially men, that we are capable and, importantly, deserving of jobs. Women and girls are pushed to achieve as much as we can academically because the assumption has long been that we are not “suited” to other kinds of work, particularly in the science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) fields. It was a way to steer us away from trades. It was a part of the “do twice as much to get half as much” idea that marginalised people are often subjected to and made to live by. Educational attainment at high levels does not translate to higher levels of income. The gender pay gap is still above 30%. Equal pay for work of equal value is not a reality for women, yet men continue to argue that we finish high school and we get degrees, so that must mean we are equal. There are far too many holes in this argument for this limited space.

“If you look at the hierarchy of the public service, more than 80 per cent are dominated by females. Look in the industry,” the prime minister said. For some reason, he did not talk about the experiences of the women in those jobs. He did not talk about the inner workings of the public service. He did not talk about the representation of women in parliament. He did not talk about the ministerial positions that women get. He did not talk about the under-resourcing of the Department of Gender and Family Affairs. He did not talk about the recommendations that have been made by international mechanisms to move toward equal participation of women and men in frontline politics. None of that was convenient to talk about. It would not have helped his flimsy argument, so he did not say any of it.

As politicians make more and more comments, with confidence, that are completely erroneous, we have to be more critical. We have to not only be attentive to what is said, but note what is not said. We have to pay attention to who is making statements, and who is silent. We have to ask ourselves why they are making certain comments. Even further, we have to look for the evidence. Reporters do not always do it, so we have to look for the evidence. In this case, it is quite simple. Look for the Blueprint for Change, read it, and pay particular attention to the sections that reference international mechanisms like the Sustainable Development Goals. Note the commitments that have been made. Put them next to the nonsense that is being spewed by politicians on a daily basis. See the difference. Make it a part of the conversation. It is up to us to ensure that everyone does not repeat the same nonsense, convinced that it is true because it came from someone in a position of power. Power is not intelligence. Power is not honesty. Power is not integrity.