— Min. Ally general equality forum

MINISTER of Social Protection, Amna Ally, has reaffirmed the government’s commitment to advancing the protection and promotion of women’s rights and gender equality in keeping with international declarations.

She made the commitment on Tuesday at the opening ceremony of a two-day seminar on the Regional and Gender Equality Strategy and Beijing +25 Summit at the Herdmanston Lodge.

The seminar was jointly convened by the ministry, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat, Cuso International and the United Nations (UN) Women Multi-Country Office of the Caribbean.

The event is a consultative process on the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action which contains a global strategy to advance equality, development and peace for all women.

It also lays out strategic actions to be taken by governments.
Regarding the Gender Equality Strategy, representatives will examine how Guyana can best implement the promises made at the signing of the declaration.

The year 2020 will mark the 25th year of the declaration and a number of countries have begun to review their individual progress in addressing the challenges that affect women and girls.

Minister Ally, in reviewing the past few years, said Guyana has made significant progress in improving the status of women since the adoption of the declaration.
Such progress is evident in the implementation of government policies and programmes aimed at reducing poverty and equalising access to goods and services to the poor and vulnerable.

Ally said from 2015 to present, there have been progressive interventions to strengthen programmes and policies to support women and girls.

Through these efforts, the government developed a national Gender and Social Inclusion policy, to be implemented in the second quarter of 2019, which will mainstream gender issues into all sectors, to eliminate negative factors which hinder equality and other factors.
Another stride for Guyana that Ally pinpointed was the re-integration of teenage mothers into schools, even as the government continues to work with its partners to address sexual and reproductive health and rights.

MUCH HELP
The Ministry of Social Protection continues to play its role in facilitating the economic empowerment of women through initiatives such as the Sustainable Livelihood and Entrepreneurial Development (SLED) programme.

Others involved include the Guyana Women’s Leader Institute, which hosted workshops in administrative regions in 2018 on gender and local government to help women improve their individual and institutional competence in their communities.

Guyana also continues to make progress on the status of women in public life with a steady rating of representation of women in Parliament.

“[Guyana] is well ahead of many developed countries on the Women in National Parliament Index. According to the 2018 index, women hold 31.9 per cent of seats in the National Assembly in Guyana and I am proud of that,” Ally said.

She added that Guyana has also made progress towards achieving universal primary education; has met its target of eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education; and now strives towards parity at the tertiary level.

However, issues that the country still grapples with include unequal representation in the work place, gender-based violence, and cultural practices which compromise the education and health of girls and women.

“I must emphasise that these challenges are not unique to Guyana. Women across the Region as well as women globally are negatively affected by detrimental cultural practices and persistent discrimination. While a national response is important, I believe that we in the Region have much commonality, thus, a collective approach is something critical,” she stressed.

USEFUL ENGAGEMENT
The event, Ally reminded, helps Guyana to identify its current challenges and gaps and determine future plans to accelerate implementation of the Regional Gender Equality Strategy at the national level.

“The Government of Guyana remains committed to promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women in all spheres of life,” she said.

She added: “More than ever, urgent and sustained action is needed to transform the structures, institutions and norms – economic, political and social – that are holding back progress on gender equality…. Guyana will continue to work with our CARICOM sister countries and the UN to promote and protect the full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedom of women and girls throughout their lives.”

Speaking to the media on the sidelines, Deputy Programme Manager of Gender and Development at the CARICOM Secretariat, Ann-Marie Williams, agreed that the event will allow Guyana to improve on prevalent issues.

“There have been some gains but in terms of sexual reproductive health, rights and violence, most of the member states have not done well in the areas. And so, this is an opportunity to report, take stock and to do better in terms of post Beijing,” she said.
Meanwhile, deputy representative of the UN Women Multi Country Office in the Caribbean, Tonni Brodber, assessed Guyana’s progress in key areas.

“I think Guyana has made some significant progress, especially in terms of legislation and policies; in terms of global standards, especially with regards to women’s political participation,” she said.

At the end of the seminar, stakeholders will provide feedback on the regional plan and aid in the outlining of the next steps needed to complete the strategy.