A look back at women’s rights

1976 – The Employment (Equal Pay for Men and Women) Act was born. Here, men and women were legally entitled to the same pay if they worked the same job for the same hours.

1979 – The Maternity Leave Act came into being, to provide maternity leave to women without loss of employment status.

1981 – Jamaica signed on to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

1987 – The National Policy Statement on Women was designed to monitor the status of women. It reaffirmed the government’s commitment to “pursue a means of redress to victims of family violence, incest, rape and sexual harassment.”

1988 – The Maintenance Orders Facilities for Enforcement Act was introduced to assist mothers to obtain financial support for children from fathers within and outside of Jamaica.

1989 – The Matrimonial Causes Act abolished all grounds for divorce to one single factor: irretrievable breakdown of marriage.

1993 – The Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependents) Act came into being, to enable wives or dependents to be maintained from the estate of a deceased husband if he died and left his property to someone else.

1995 – The Domestic Violence Act was introduced to provide remedies for domestic violence and for the protection of victims through speedy and effective relief.

2004 – The Property (Rights of Spouses) Act makes provisions for the division of family property and to provide for other matters with respect to the breakdown of the union.

2005 – Jamaica signed the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence Against Women (Belem do Para).

2007 – The introduction of theTrafficking of Persons (Prevention, Suppression and Punishment) Act was to deal with sexual slavery, labour slavery, exploitation of women, child pornography and forced labour. In all of these atrocities, women suffer most.

2007 – The debate continues on amendments to the Incest (punishment) Act and Offences Against the Person Act to benefit women victims.

– Compiled by Ruth Howard with information from The Bureau of Women’s Affairs and women’s and children’s rights advocate, Margarette Macaulay.