Women unheard in macho battle

DR GABRIELLE JAMELA HOSEIN

ON SUNDAY, I was pleased to see Dr Rowley's post on his Facebook page saying, “I am available for a public discussion on caring and respect for women.”

Given worsening economic contraction and social insecurity since 2015 and in the wake of the pandemic, such public discussion with the prime minister listening to unaddressed women’s issues is urgent and necessary.

Publicly-paid workers are making important claims in relation to higher costs of living. The economy may not be able to sustain salary increases, but the poor state of the economy, export and more is the Government’s responsibility, not just because of decades of poor economic planning, but also because of how bureaucratically difficult it is to do business in TT.

Every week, economists write about the necessity for diversification, analysts highlight how much money is lost to procurement corruption, people bemoan the low priority given to agriculture, and nothing seems to change.

Other oil-rich countries are sitting on a generation’s worth of savings in their heritage and stabilisation funds. We are not.

It’s politically macho to hit back at the unions and easy to demonise them as greedy or self-serving at a time when tens of thousands have lost their incomes, but this is exactly when and why governments should be held accountable by workers, when and why we should not lose sight of the macro-level.

Those with lower incomes and increasing scarcity must now bear the burden of a state creaking along on rusty wheels, with the PM at the helm for the past seven years and the PNM in power for the majority of this history.

To that end, I want to remind the PM, who is senior to the Finance Minister, of calls by the women’s movement for gender-responsive budgeting. Parliamentarians have been trained, as have those in the Ministry of Finance, but the minister himself seems to have no clue or care about why such a fiscal approach is essential and why other countries have adopted it already.

Again, this is an example of how the macro is failing the society, and how solutions are recommended and ignored.

Regarding labour issues, there’s also a category of public servants whose working conditions may be invisible to others. These are employees on short-term contracts of anywhere between one and six months; professionals with experience and qualifications, but no job security.

Historically, women entered the public service because it offered stable employment which was good for raising stable families. Now, there is an entire tier of mostly women who cannot access vacation leave, sick leave or maternity leave, nor loans for a car or house. Precarious labour conditions are everywhere.

In terms of women, the PM must be aware of the long struggle by domestic workers to have ILO Convention 189 on decent work ratified so that unionised domestic workers can take their disputes to the Industrial Court.

This is another group of mostly women whose cry could be heard and whose legitimate call to be fully recognised as workers could be met by a government that had care and respect for women, including those who are working-class, labouring in the informal sector, and probably working in ministers’ own homes.

The State’s approach to understanding and addressing women has historically been welfarist, with women being seen as a beneficiary (or burden) on the State, rather than as economically contributing citizens, whether through their unequal responsibility for care of children, the ill and the elderly (which is not counted in GDP) or through their productive contribution to national income.

It’s like casting women as a vulnerable group. Women are not themselves vulnerable; the social, political, economic and gendered organisation of the society puts them at greater risk of violence and poverty.

Similarly, women don’t want to be protected, they want rights, equity, non-violence and freedom. The solution is not more cash transfers nor the ambiguity of more “respect.” The issues are more complex, and require meeting women’s movement recommendations, and state commitments and responsibilities.

To this day, there is no Cabinet-approved National Policy on Gender so we can’t hold the State accountable to its own policy for advancing women’s rights and gender equality.

Women would welcome being part of the PM’s suggested public discussion. We continue to need improvements to laws and policies (and their implementation), fiscal planning, and social protection.

Meanwhile, care and respect require acknowledgement that the PM vs Michael Annisette muscle-flexing ironically leaves women unheard, like a stereotypical trophy in a battle between men.

Diary of a mothering worker

motheringworker@gmail.com

Entry 472