EDITORIAL - Confronting the glass ceiling

This edition of The Gleaner is special beyond the fact of its publication on International Women's Day and the fact that it reports on a number of women who, each day, make a difference to the lives of people in their communities. None of them seek either recognition or reward for their efforts. They, for the most part, are unsung heroes.

The other significant fact of this issue of The Gleaner is that the special reports to which we referred were prepared under the editorial direction of a woman widely known in Jamaica and internationally - Portia Simpson Miller, the president of the People's National Party and the country's prime minister.

There is something more than mildly ironic about Mrs Simpson Miller's political status and her broader role in leadership. She presides over an elected House of Representatives of which a mere 12 per cent or eight of its 65 members are women, and a party whose female representation accounts for only 15 per cent of all its members of both chambers of the legislature. Similarly, women from both parties are 15 per cent of the members of the two chambers.

Comparatively, women make up 21 per cent of the members of the United Kingdom's (UK) House of Commons, a third of Germany's Bundestag, 42 per cent of the Dutch parliament and 46 per cent of Sweden's. Clearly, Mrs Simpson Miller and the three other women of the 20-member Cabinet are not indicative of a fundamental shift in the gender balance of political leadership in Jamaica.

But it is not only in politics that women are under-represented at the top. It is the same in business.

Indeed, a crude analysis by this newspaper indicates that of the more than 300 people who currently sit on the boards of firms listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, only 17 per cent are women, a marginal one percentage point increase on the figure reported in a 2007 study by the Women's Resource and Outreach Centre. With these numbers, Jamaica fares better than the UK, where a 2010 study of FTSE-100 firms showed that only 12.5 per cent of their board members were female, up from 9.4 per cent from six years earlier. At that pace of improvement, it was estimated that it would take 70 years for women in Britain to catch up to their male counterparts in board membership.

Deliberate effort to change

The British data, however, can be no comfort to Jamaican women, whose access to power and influence is not commensurate with either their ratio in the population or advance in education. Women are 51 per cent of the country's population and account for 70 per cent of enrolment in tertiary education.

Additionally, they make up the bulk of the organisational force of political parties and the bulk of middle management of firms, but tend to bump into the proverbial glass ceiling on higher climbs.

This newspaper believes that conscious efforts have to be made to address these inconsistencies. As has been recommended in Britain, publicly listed firms are being made to disclose the proportion of females on their boards, senior executive positions and overall employ. Political parties should themselves set targets to significantly increase female membership in their councils and the legislature.

Should they fail, quotas might be necessary.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.