Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretary General, Dr Carla Barnett on Wednesday said the Caribbean must not lose sight of the many issues that stand in the way of achieving women’s equality, such as women’s political participation, unpaid care and domestic work, impact of climate change, and gender-based violence which is a public health crisis in the region.
In a message celebrating International Women’s Day (IWD), Barnett, the first woman to head the Guyana-based CARICOM Secretariat, said the global average shows one in three women has experienced physical and/or sexual violence at some point in her lifetime, usually from an intimate partner.
“In the Caribbean region, prevalence surveys conducted between 2016 to 2018 in five member states indicate incidence rates as high as one in two women,” she said.
She said the day is set also aside to acknowledge women’s contributions to technology, and explore the impact of the digital gender divide on widening economic and social inequalities exacerbated during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
