To what extent do gender roles affect the productivity of the labour force in Saint

Catherine?

Study, work hard, mind your manners ... these are but some of the things our mothers told us we
needed to do to conquer the world. And it worked, or at least to a certain extent, as here we are
scattered across the corporate world. But there is much our mothers didn't tell us and much that
we also end up not telling our own daughters.
The last Gender Equality Report published by the World Economic Forum in 2013 had some
very interesting statistics, three of which are listed below (as it relates to Jamaica):
Tertiary Education - #5 - female-to-male ratio of 2.29.
Legislators, senior officials and manager - #1 - female-to-male ratio of 1.45
Wage Equality for Similar Work - #76 - female-to-male ratio 0.64 female
Overall ranking - # 47
So what do these numbers tell us?
Well, in practical terms, what the numbers are really saying is exactly what, I believe, our
mothers neglected out of fear to tell us.
Chances are as a woman you have better qualifications and will rise to a mid-management level
job, but any further is largely out of bounds. After all, Jamaican women are bright and can run
homes on shoe-string budgets, so it stands to reason that indeed women should be the backbone
of corporate Jamaica; in other words, we are good enough to produce the reports, but only so that
the men can make the decisions.
Some will say we ought to be grateful that women now have so many career opportunities and
hold so many management positions. And, indeed, we are grateful, but should we also be grateful
that on average we are paid but 64 cents for every dollar earned by a man for similar jobs? The
glass ceiling exists and it is called by many names. Maybe you've been accused of having 'man
problems' because, God forbid, you were feeling ill. And if you are outspoken, you're just simply
too 'emotional' to be considered for more senior roles. But my all-time favourite is being too
'distracted', as you actually spend your day working and leave on time, to go be a mom instead of
hanging around pretending to be productive.
Better economies
Why is gender equality so important? Gender equality leads to improved competitiveness.
Coincidentally, most of the countries that rank highest in Gender Equality also rank highest on
the Global Competitiveness Index. This is, therefore, as much an economic issue (maybe even
more so) as it is a social issue. Countries will only be competitive if they are developing,
attracting and retaining the very best talent, both male and female.

And so, today, I add my voice to the lobby for policy quotas aimed at promoting gender equality
and diversity in both government and private sectors.