Gender Approach to Development on Women's Day

Contact: John Emmanuel

March 8, 1999 - Gender Relations Minister the Hon. Sarah Flood says greater recognition still needs to be given to St. Lucian women for the critical role they play in shaping the social and economic life of the country. Her comments come as St. Lucia today March 8, joins the rest of the world in observing International Women’s Day.

Locally the division of Gender Relations has organised a series of activities to mark the occasion. Among the activities is an address by Minister Flood, during which she paid tribute to several outstanding women along with women’s organisations across the country.

According to Minister Flood, as the 21Century approaches "women are still agitating for basic fundamental human rights, like equal opportunity in the work place; freedom from other forms of discrimination; protection from physical abuse, rape and sexual harassment to name a few."

The new trust of the Gender Relations division she says will seek to examine ways, in which both men and women are affected by policies, plans and programmes of government. "The discussion of gender means looking at how men and women are raised or the way they are socialised. A gender perspective means looking beyond the sex of a persons and trying to understand why things are the way they are, the theory being that much of it has to be with how people are raised."

The gender approach Miss Flood says takes the women’s angle forward in a deeper more holistic manner, while ensuring at the same time the issues affecting men will not be marginalised. She says that although significant strides have been made in recognising the contribution of women, much work still needed to be done in areas such as education, poverty, decision making and domestic violence.

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