UN Women to Assist Grenada Government in Revising Legislation and Benefits for Child and Elder Care

Date:

Woman holding child in each arm
UN Women Photo | Ryan Brown

 

24 June 2025: The Cabinet of Grenada has approved UN Women-led support for the development of legislation addressing maternity leave, parental leave benefits, and other gaps related to the care of children and the elderly. This legislation is expected to impact Grenada's population of 117 thousand people.

This initiative is a component of the Government of Canada-funded Build Back Equal Project that aims to reduce barriers to women’s economic empowerment and which is being implemented in Dominica, Grenada and St. Vincent & the Grenadines.

Senator the Honourable Gloria Ann Thomas, Minister of the Ministry of Social and Community Development, Housing and Gender Affairs, said:
“We have recently increased the national minimum wage for 14 job categories, with some female-dominated sectors such as caregiving seeing up to 100% pay increases. This is a tangible step toward reducing women’s poverty and economic dependency.

Minister Thomas in a recent presentation to the Executive Board of UN Women, explained that through the Build Back Equal Project, Grenada was among the first countries in the region to collect data on unpaid care and domestic work (SDG Indicator 5.4.1), to inform policy.

“Cabinet has recently approved the development of draft legislation aimed at strengthening gender-responsive care systems—an outcome of our partnership with UN Women through the Build Back Equal initiative. The new draft legislation will address gender-equal caring responsibilities, extend maternity leave, introduce parental leave, provide child benefits for low-income families, and safeguard the rights of domestic and care workers”, the Minister added.

Isiuwa Iyahen, UN Women Multi-Country Office Caribbean Head of Office ad interim (a.i.) said: “We are addressing maternity leave to ensure that at a minimum, women in Grenada receive 14 weeks of maternity leave and we are addressing parental leave including flexible working arrangements, which would encourage both women and men to share responsibility for care within the family including legal guardians who are not biological parents. It is of critical importance that we had the Cabinet, which comprises the Prime Minister and decision-making ministers review and assent to UN Women providing technical support for this suite of legislation; because it demonstrates the highest level of support for changes in the legal and normative framework of the country.”

The UN Women Head continued: “The revised legislation and policies will provide low income working parents with benefits to to address the increasing cost of living for caring for children. It will address the rights of marginalised workers in the care economy, for example greater recognition and remuneration for domestic workers who are a part of this ‘Care Economy’, and it will address the obligations for employers in the private sector and public sector for workers  for example, who are nursing and need a safe and private and sanitary place to be able to express breast milk, which is a recognition of decent work but beyond that a commitment to gender equal standards for work”.
 

UN Women 2024 Mission Visit when UN Women launched this partnership with Grenada
(centre) Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda - Deputy Executive Director, UN Women with  (at right) Isiuwa Iyahen- Head of Office a.i. UN Women MCO - Caribbean; Tonni Brodber- former Representative, UN Women MCO - Caribbean; and  (2nd left) The Honourable Minister Gloria Ann Thomas, Minister in the Ministry of Social and Community Development, Housing and Gender Affairs and (at left)  Ms. Naomi Jeremiah, former PS of Ministry of Social and Community Development, Housing and Gender Affairs - UN Women 2024 Mission Visit when UN Women launched this partnership with Grenada. UN Women Photo/Ryan Brown

 

Another component of the BBE Project involves conducting a cost analysis on care. The analysis aims to estimate the cost for the country to achieve universal access to care for children, persons with disabilities, and the elderly. This analysis is aligned with the legislation and can help inform it. The project will quantify the costs for providing care services for Grenada's entire population, including care for children below the age of five, the elderly, and persons with disabilities.

The UN Women Head noted that Grenada's initiative serves as an example for member states not currently participating in the Build Back Equal Project. “It demonstrates a commitment to decent work rights and the promotion of gender-equal caring responsibilities within families, communities, and between the state and private sector. It signals to governments, but also to civil society which has been advocating for progressive legislation of this kind and hopefully is a source of inspiration, that we can move to not just de jure, but de facto equality”. 

Ms Iyahen reminded that reducing unpaid care work can reduce income poverty. For example, women who are recipients of public assistance with child-care responsibilities could have more time to pursue adult education, to pursue job and skills training, and to invest more time to attend to their own health, including mental health.”

The BBE Project’s overall theory of change is that if women in Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, especially the most marginalised, have increased access to subsidised childcare, reliable sexual and reproductive health services, to climate and shock-responsive social protection which includes gender-based violence services and opportunities for and access to innovative financing, digitisation and climate-smart and environmentally-friendly practices to grow their businesses; then they will experience economic resilience and their countries will benefit from their increased productivity to Build Back Equal.