Today March 8th is International Women’s Day. It is also the 100th anniversary of the birth of Lady Bustamante. As prime minister Portia Simpson Miller has pointed out in her message to mark the day, women all over the world and here in Jamaica have a lot to celebrate in terms of achievements in the advancement of women. But one group of women in Jamaica who have not advanced as rapidly as other women are the domestic helpers.

In both 1990 and 1991, I wrote on this topic in the now defunct Jamaica Record and as a result I was invited to the launch of the Jamaica Association of Household Workers in 1991. But in the ensuing years the association faded away. Whenever I write on this topic I get some responses, particularly from women employers about domestic helpers who steal their possessions. I always tell them that while stealing is endemic in our society, if domestic helpers were paid properly it might cut down the incidence of stealing.

The plain truth is that class prejudice is alive and well and one manifestation is the way in which domestic helpers are treated. The daily routine of helpers is not a “bed of roses”. Many of them wake up at four or five in the morning, take a bus or “robot” to another side of town to make breakfast for their employers who are perhaps not out of bed yet.

Many domestic helpers are expected to tend to the small children of their employers, iron their clothes and prepare meals all at the same time. Many of them endure abuse from the children of their employers and many times play mistress for the male employer. If International Women’s Day is about raising the dignity of women, then why are the concerns of the domestic helpers not addressed by the women in leadership? Why is it that some of our female columnists who write on women’s issues far more often than they do any other issues, seldom if ever write about the plight of domestic helpers?

Are our women’s rights only for upper class or intellectual women? Are our women’s organisations only for women who really want to be men? Are women’s achievements to be measured only in how they are similar to men and to attire themselves in men’s clothing to show the similarity? Do our women’s organisations exist to promote the dignity of women as they properly should, or are they about intimidating, disrespecting and belittling men? Why do we not see women’s rights groups promoting the dignity of motherhood?

The job description of the first policewoman centred mainly on women’s crimes and some other matters. Nowadays the policewomen are brought into the crime squads, dressed and trained as the males so that they become quite muscular and appear as unnatural women. Is this really necessary to stop crime? Are policewoman obliged to give up their femininity to stop crime?

Who really loses when women behave like men? Both men and women lose. Men are intimidated, marginalised, threatened and feminised, much to the amusement of many women. But when men are feminised, who benefits? It could not be the majority of women who naturally desire “mannish men” as partners. And it could not be the men who find that in reality they have married or permanently relate to a woman who, except for the gender, is virtually another man. Who might benefit could be the people in the liquor business because in such circumstances many men turn to alcohol.

And when men turn to alcohol, who benefits apart from the medical doctors, the hospital owners and the pharmacists and pharmaceutical manufacturers? It could not be the children who usually end up in broken homes. And it certainly could not be the drunken men who end up with serious health problems which many times shorten their life spans. And certainly not the wives or widows of these drunken men nor the children who are victims of their circumstances.

Domestic helpers should form a friendly society or a co-operative which the adult members of the their families can join. This co-operative or friendly society should be an employment agency where prospective employers sign contracts that protect the rights of both parties. And their co-operative or friendly society should own shares in other companies for alternative employment.

Today is also 11 years since the Jamaica Labour Party’s Shahine Robinson won a by-election in the formerly strong People’s National Party stronghold of North-East St Ann. It was her win that shocked and woke up the PNP to organise itself for a fourth-term victory. This was reminiscent of the PNP comeback victory of 1959 after its very poor showing in Jamaica in the federal elections of 1958. The West Indies Federal Labour Party to which the PNP was affiliated did win power in the Federation, but in Jamaica the Democratic Labour Party to which the JLP was affiliated won 12 of the 17 federal seats up for grabs in the Federation, while the WIFLP/DLP alliance won the remaining five.

ekrubm765@yahoo.com