Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley has given a Standing Committee on Social Policy four months to construct a new deal to make life easier for single mothers in Barbados.
The Committee will have to report to Parliament with the details by that deadline. It will also be expected to settle on a restructured delivery of social services. The third major piece of work for the Committee will be a reform of the Barbados Secondary Schools Entrance Examination, also known as the Common Entrance Exam.
Speaking on a Resolution to approve the Report of the Joint Select Committee in the House of Assembly on Friday, the Prime Minister said that for too long, the delivery of services to Barbadians has not been people-centred.
“The Honourable Member for St Michael West [Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley], when we sought to elect a President, raised issues that I joined with him on, on a new deal for single mothers. And we have started that process because we believe that the establishment of a Family Court that does not discriminate between single parents and married parents is an absolute necessity in this country, in the same way that it was a necessity to abolish bastardy,” she said.
Mottley added that there should be no difference between how single and married parents are treated by the system when they seek to get maintenance for their children.
“What is the significance of a ring on your finger driving you to the High Court, and without a ring on your finger…you have to go and stand up in the hot sun or the rain in the Magistrates’ Court? It must stop in this nation,” she insisted. “You want to know what a new republic means? These are the things that we are going after strongly and deliberately.”
Back in October, after members of both Houses of Parliament elected Dame Sandra Mason as Barbados’ first President, the Opposition Leader had called for a presidential commission to improve the lot of women raising children on their own. He said such a commission should be mandated to lead in the development of a National Charter for Single Mothers.
