Minister in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Marsha Caddle says there needs to be a rethink of the value of jobs towards which women currently gravitate.
She contended that the traditional yardstick for valuing these roles are out of whack with the current reality and this has led to economic disparities between the sexes, even though more women graduate from institutions of higher learning.
The minister made the remarks during the launch of a report by UN Women, which was held at UN House, this morning.
The report entitled, Status of Women and Men Report: A Gender Analysis of Labour Force Data and Policy Frameworks in Six CARICOM Member States, provided insight into progress made with regards to achieving gender equality in the world of work. The minister said that while in Barbados women are close to parity with men when it comes to wages for performing the same duties, society does not ascribe high value to a number of the critical jobs in female-dominated fields.
“Men tend to occupy positions where they operate heavy equipment and machinery while women tend to be in service and care work in the informal and formal economy. This fact is mirrored across all sectors of the economy. This is in part one of the reasons for the disparity in women’s income because we know that these professions where women tend to be focused, somehow tend to attract a lower level of wages,” said Caddle.
She added, “The conversation for equal pay for equal work of equal value is very important. Those last three words [of equal value] are important because it is about how we value the work that is done in our communities and in our economies.”
Caddle argued that the care industry, both formal and informal, remains one of the roles which is grossly undervalued, even though its existence facilitates all other jobs.
“Care work has to be seen as more valuable than it currently is. It has to be remunerated practically. This field is responsible for the population of entire civilizations and entire workforces. We know the value of unpaid care work; we know the value of care work in the formal and informal sector and it is time that the remuneration of the work reflects that value,” Caddle stressed.
She revealed that to this end, Government was seeking to change the work culture in order to have more flexible work environments, such as, working from home, creating spaces for children at the office and childcare facilities at industrial complexes.
“We are promoting breastfeeding and feed management arrangements in the workplace. This is just one of the areas of flexibility that we are working with and is required. Breastfeeding must not be seen as one of those things that must only be done at home because the rearing of entire generations of people certainly cannot be a private matter. We have to open up the workspace to be able to account for and allow for all of these arrangements,” Caddle explained. [email protected]
