Located in the eastern Caribbean Sea, Grenada is an island country with approximately 125,000 people. Like other Caribbean countries, Grenada faces several challenges related to women’s rights. For example, one-third of young women in Grenada, Saint Lucia and Jamaica do not participate in education, employment or training due to family responsibilities.

Though the country has made significant strides towards gender parity, such disparities extend to women’s political representation. Additionally, women in Grenada are more vulnerable than men to financial loss from natural disasters and domestic violence. In response to these women’s rights issues in Grenada, the government and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are confronting gender-based oppression head-on. Here are three key projects advancing gender equality and women’s rights in Grenada today.

Gender Equality Policy and Action Plan

GEPAP is one of the Grenadian government’s most comprehensive efforts to improve women’s rights thus far. As the project completes its final year, GEPAP strives to invite the participation of women in every aspect of “all political, economic, social, cultural and environmental [programs] and projects.”

In January 2023, GEPAP took a focus on gender-based budgeting. Prepared by the Ministry of Finance, the Gender Budget Statement expressed the government’s continued commitment to women’s rights in Grenada by ratifying numerous anti-discrimination conventions. The document underlines the importance of gender-responsive budgeting, as the government is allocating financial resources to “address gender gaps in all sectors and at all levels.”

With GEPAP, more women have also taken on leadership positions, particularly in politics, schools and courts. In the 2018 elections, women made up 47% of Parliamentary representatives. In the same year, women held the titles of Head of State, Head of Public Service and the Head of the Treasury.

EnGenDER

Led by multiple organizations such as the United Nations (U.N.) Women, Enabling Gender-Responsive Disaster Recovery, Climate and Environmental Resilience in the Caribbean (EnGenDER) is a collaborative effort confronting the disproportionate effects of natural disaster risk on women in Grenada. In the program, food security within the agriculture sector and health and disaster management are highlighted by the National Decision-Making Mechanism for Grenada. Public health crises generally affect women’s food security more than men’s. For instance, during the COVID-19 pandemic in February 2022, the CARICOM Food Security & Livelihoods Survey found that 69% of men “had no difficulties eating” compared to 45% of women.

Changing weather patterns and natural disasters impact Grenadian women similarly, as they are often expected to take on greater household responsibilities. For example, many female farmers accounted for the need to provide for their families when they reported “having less money to spend on climate risk insurance.” The initiative found that this was less of a consideration for male farmers. Single Grenadian women face the impacts of changing weather patterns and natural disasters alongside poverty, making up the “largest segment of the poorest quintile of the population in the country.”

In addition, EnGenDER examines disparities in the medical system in Grenada, as women seek less medical attention but face more reproductive and menstrual health concerns. With its analysis across these sectors, EnGenDER has contributed necessary context to the government’s work on climate resilience for women, encouraging recent developments such as the National Climate Change Policy and the National Adaptation Plan that work in tandem with GEPAP.

GrenadaInfoSPACE

In 2018, a national survey showed that 29% of Grenadian women would experience gender-based violence during their life. The survey was one of few at the time exploring domestic violence but revealed a prevalent struggle among Grenadian women. The Spotlight Initiative to End Violence Against Women and Girls launched GrenadaInfoSAFE in June 2023 to help combat this issue. A digital data system, GrenadaInfoSAFE, is working to gather more information about domestic violence experiences throughout the country.

The platform’s surveys and statistics that follow will help quantify the gravity of the problem. By analyzing the collected data, the project hopes to put a spotlight on domestic violence, which is underreported and neglected in the Caribbean. With more tangible evidence of the specific types of gender-based violence occurring, leaders are better equipped to understand and address the domestic violence challenges undermining women’s rights in Grenada.

As efforts such as GEPAP, EnGenDER and GrenadaInfoSPACE work to bolster women’s rights in Grenada, they empower women everywhere, creating a world and future of greater gender equality.

– Estelle Lee
Photo: Pixabay