UN Women and CARICOM sign MOU to advance Gender Equality in the Caribbean

Seated, from left, UN Women Head of Office, Ms. Tonni Brodber, and CARICOM Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque sign the MOU. Standing are Mr. Neville Bissember and Ms. Barbara Vandyke, Office of the CARICOM Secretary-General. Photo compliments of CARICOM

In an effort to begin 2017 poised to make specific and tangible strides to addressing gender inequality UN Women Multi-Country Office – Caribbean and CARICOM have signed an MOU to promote gender equality throughout the region. Through the MOU, UN Women and CARICOM will collaborate to:

• Enhance Caribbean-wide data, statistics and analysis on the implementation of the gender dimensions of the SDGs and SAMOA Pathway, including the area of citizen security, the 2015-2019 Strategic Plan for CARICOM and the Action Plan for Statistics recently endorsed in 2016;
• Support CARICOM-wide voice in the normative processes shaping national level sustainable development as it relates to gender equality;
• Deepen capacities of CARICOM Member States to implement international, regional and national commitments to advance gender equality and the empowerment of women, including through access to regionally relevant tools (such as gender-responsive budgeting, model legislation) and sharing of best practices; and
• Enhance leadership of CARICOM Secretariat in realising the above three priorities.

UN Women MCO – Caribbean Head of Office a.i. Tonni Brodber stated: “Gender inequality in all its manifestations is a human rights violation that blocks the full potential and participation of men and women, this is just not something that Caribbean countries can afford.

“Gender inequality manifests itself in narrow and low expectations for how girls and boys can contribute to a country’s economy, unequal pay for equal work, negative stereotypes that align violence with masculinity and narrow the female experience to one of sexual objectification, and one of the most destructive manifestations of gender inequality - gender based violence,” the UN Women Head of office added.

In his remarks, CARICOM Secretary-General Ambassador Irwin LaRocque said that some of the work will focus on developing model legislation and regional-specific tools to address behaviour change to tackle the root causes of gender-based violence and to ensure strong evidence-based advocacy.

The Secretary-General thanked the UN system for its continuing role in assisting Member States’ development and in advancing the work of the Secretariat.

This builds on previous collaboration where UN Women has also worked closely with CARICOM to develop the CARICOM Gender Equality Indicators, which will assist countries in tracking and measuring their progress in achieving gender equality.