This is the second in a three-part series based on excerpts from the presentation delivered at the Annual Rose Leon Memorial Lecture 2020 on March 2.

In Jamaica’s House of Representatives, there are 12 elected female members of parliament. Women now make up 19 per cent of the 63-member House.

With women being 51 per cent of the electorate, 19 per cent is relatively small. But it’s the highest we have had in our 57 years of independence. In the Senate, it’s 24 per cent with there being five women among the 21 senators. It was 29 per cent in the period 2011-2016 when I had the honour of serving as a senator.

These numbers are problematic as gender equity in politics globally has been shown to make laws, institutions and policies more representative of the population.

When I say gender equity, I mean men and women working together in partnership with more equal representation — sharing competencies and perspectives critical for effective development. Gender equity does not mean women and men will or have to become the same. It does not mean that women want to take over from men.

We know that women’s experiences across sectors, as professionals, as consumers, as primary caregivers of children — daughters and sons — caregivers of the elderly, as managers of family resources, as practitioners of one kind or another will bring different and diverse skills and expertise to their functional areas at different levels of leadership, which men, by virtue of their different gendered roles, will not.

For example, take a simple issue like the need for public bathrooms. Women’s complex body functioning, the experience of pregnancy and being the primary caregivers would more readily see the need for more public bathrooms in city planning than men would. That we give little thought to clean, widely available public restrooms as part of our Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation planning suggests women’s voices are not sufficiently at the table.

Let’s be clear, men bring other significant positives and we need both sets of talents for the best results. I think we can all agree that Jamaica needs extraordinary results now.

Why the Consistently Low Numbers of Female Parliamentarians?

Patriarchy is alive and well. Now, patriarchy is not a code for or against men. Patriarchy is a reference to a kind of society in which men and women are in unequal relations of power which affects relationships in all spheres (home, work, churches, political parties, parliaments).

So even though Jamaica had a woman as prime minister — Most Honourable Portia Simpson Miller; even though we have a high percentage of women in our universities; and we have the most female managers per capita; and women have led certain arms of Government (like the Judiciary with the Hon Mrs Justice Zalia McCalla), patriarchal power “run things”.

Did you know that there are more men employed in Jamaica than women — 117,200 more to be exact? Women are still twice as likely to be unemployed or employed in low-paying jobs, compared to men in Jamaica. In fact, an Inter-American Development Bank study found that on average women in Jamaica at all levels earn approximately 19 per cent less than men for the same jobs. Women comprise 23 per cent of board directors of public companies and six per cent of managing directors or CEOs.

As a percentage, “one or two” women are let in from time to time but the power remains firmly in the hands of male privilege. It’s how systems persist and perpetuate themselves — a few get through so you can always point and say “See, they did it” — but the underlying structure of the system actually has not changed. The patriarchy system is resilient and resistant to change. So we still see contemptuous attitudes and offensive behaviours towards women often manifesting in abuse — verbal, physical, sexual and otherwise.

Much-Needed Jolt to the System

Critical mass of women in political leadership has led to more effective policies of affordable quality healthcare and education, as well as widespread water access. We need that here too in Jamaica. Many countries have moved into action to jolt the system by deliberately re-setting the parameters towards more gender-balanced representation.

To that end, I recommend a 10-year jolt with gender quotas (60:40 for either gender) for our Parliament along with a special funding vehicle for female political candidates. Let’s aggressively change the policy landscape around what is addressed and how. Once the special measures are established as the norm, then we can remove the special mandate. Jamaica will emerge as a better place. Gender equity can significantly transform our politics.

In Part 3, I speak to ‘Reproductive Independence for Young Women’.

— Imani Duncan-Price is a PNP spokeswoman on industry, competitiveness and global logistics, chief of staff for the leader of the opposition, a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, Eisenhower Fellow and former senator. E-mail feedback to fullticipation@gmail.com