SEPTEMBER 2009 marks the second anniversary of the electoral victory of the present Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) government under the leadership of Prime Minister Bruce Golding. This milestone is an appropriate time to evaluate and grade the achievements of the new regime on all aspects of national development.

The objective of this article is to state clearly to my readers the basis on which I have come to the conclusions about the progress or lack thereof on the issues that are important to the achievements of gender equality and the empowerment of Jamaican women.

It is important for the Government to be evaluated against what it has done to the plans it has put in place to meet the special needs of 50.7 per cent of the population represented by 1,365,500 women.

As a majority in the society, women like the investors and high rollers must be assured confidence in the country's financial, social and political operations.

practical challenge

In the heady moment of victory in the 2007 general election, Prime Minister Golding described himself as the people`s chief servant and as the driver of the JLP bus as it takes the road to the promised land - free from corruption, mismanagement and waste. A land of jobs! jobs! jobs!

Moving beyond partisan and tribal politics is a very difficult intellectual and practical challenge for the average Jamaican citizen.

However. in spite of the predisposition to see the world through green or orange tinted glasses, Jamaica women, in general, would have had no choice but to welcome the possibility of a new Jamaica in which they can find jobs, dignity, self-determination and the possibility of raising their children in a corruption-free, peaceful and transparent society. Of course, the future is always unpredictable, and the women of Jamaica have had to face the stark realities of the global economic crisis and the resultant impact on the lives of the ordinary Jamaican folk.

While the economic crisis is of great concern, the majority of Jamaican women, on numerous occasions, have had to tighten their belts and "turn their hands to make fashion". This they have done from the days when our ancestors left the slave ships to do the back-breaking work to put money in backra massa coffers.

In the contemporary climate of difficult economic challenges, the women of the nation continue to be realists. They need a government that takes a frontal attack against corruption and nepotism and one that recognises the unique gender and developmental needs of the both women and men.

To this end, they fully expected that the Bruce Golding-led government would, in two years, begin to talk the talk and walk the walk in the following areas which would help the Government to meet the Millennium Development Goals and live up to its commitment to the demands of the International Human Rights Treaties that Jamaica has ratified.

1. The basic tenet of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is that "all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights ... without distinction based on sex".

In line with this world view, the United Nations developed the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

This optional protocol was designed to give the CEDAW committee the authority to receive and consider communications "submitted by or on behalf of individuals under the jurisdiction of the State Party".

During the last days of the People's National Party regime, then Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller made a commitment to an expert group sponsored by UNIFEM that the Jamaican State would ratify the OPTIONAL protocol to CEDAW. In light of the regime change, the women of Jamaica have the right to anticipate and expect that the responsible bureaucrats who have watched and presided over the changing of the guards at Jamaica House would ensure that the new Government would be properly briefed and updated on all commitments, obligations and challenges that are on the women's page.

Simpson Miller

no public discussion

1. After nearly two years, there has been no public discussion on whether or not the present Government has considered the ratification the Optional Protocol to CEDAW. Such ratification would have given the victims of the Armadale tragedy an alternative route to justice in the event that they do not think that they have received justice at the end of the long torturous investigation that is now under way.

2. The National Machinery for Women was generously financed by the Canadian Government to produce a National Gender Policy to present to the Parliament of the Nation.

This process has been ongoing for more than five years and a number of highly paid consultants have been involved in facilitating this. Also, select individuals have enjoyed big lunches and refreshments in what has been defined as a series of "consultations with stakeholders".

To date, the women of Jamaica are still holding their collective breath. There has been no talk on the status of this long promised policy.

3. The long awaited Sexual Harrassment Bill has taken the same route of consultation over big lunches and under the animation of well-paid consultants. This bill has yet to see the light of day.

4. The issue of violence against women is a national shame. We are still awaiting well-designed, effective and properly funded government facilities that will ensure that the eradication of violence against women and girls become a national priority.

The women of Jamaica must remember that on December 15, 2005, the Government ratified the Inter-American Convention on the prevention, punishment and eradication of Violence Against Women "Convention of Belem do Para". Our government must be held accountable for the commitments under this treaty.

Also, the women of Jamaica must demand that the Government hold accountable the public servants who are being paid to articulate, advise on and implement the plans of action to meet the needs of all the women of Jamaica.

The general public can only assume that the Government will pay attention to the recommendations directed to the Jamaican State after a delegation appointed by the state party presented the last report to the CEDAW Committee.

Glenda Simms is a gender consultant. She may be reached at columns@gleanerjm.com