The National Policy for Gender Equality is a national multi-sectoral policy developed through a consultative process led by the Bureau of Women s Affairs of Jamaica. It was adopted in 2011 and will be implemented up to 2030 in line with the National Development Plan. The Policy outlines Jamaica s commitment towards gender equality and encapsulates the different outcomes expected in order to achieve gender equality. Its purpose is to mainstream gender, within a human rights based framework, in all State institutions, in partnership with private sector, non-governmental and civil society organizations, in order to ensure that females and males have equal access to opportunities, resources, and rewards in order to eliminate discrimination based on gender and to promote sustainable human development. The Policy establishes the following goals: 1) to use the policy document as a strategic tool to guide a multi-faceted and multi-sectoral approach to gender equality; 2) to transform prevailing gender ideologies, inequitable gender relations and gendered governance practices at all levels of public sector organizations; and 3) to create a socio-economic, political and legal environment free of discrimination on the basis of sex, where females and males, at all stages of the life-cycle, can enjoy their full human rights and develop their full potential as citizens.
The Policy will ensure that women and girls have access to sanitation and potable water.
The Policy will develop and implement strategies to alleviate poverty and other vulnerabilities among rural women. It will develop and implement strategies to alleviate poverty and other vulnerabilities among female farmers by establishing cooperatives to reduce costs and increase production options specifically for women engaged in agriculture. It will also address the sexual division of labour in the agricultural industry by training women in jobs that were previously designated for men, and men for jobs previously designated for women.
The Policy will ensure the provision of support services to women in small, micro and medium enterprise (including in agricultural and food systems) by lobbying the financial sector for the increase in the share of capital available to women for enterprise and for collateral requirements for women to be more reflective of the actual assets women have access to.
Permanent Secretaries and Chief Executive Officers in all Ministries and its departments and agencies (MDAs) will be responsible for the implementation of the principles and goals of the Policy as they relate to their own entities. The Bureau of Women s Affairs will consult and collaborate with all MDAs to assist with the implementation process that shall be monitored by the Gender Advisory Council. The gender mainstreaming process will be facilitated by Gender Focal Points established within each MDA.
This website is supported by and contributing to the InforMEA Project which is funded by the European Union
© United Nations Environment Programme