Guyana has made significant progress in achieving gender equality

OVER the years, Guyana has made significant progress in achieving gender equality compared to other countries around the world. This is due to the implementation and compliance of various action plans, guidelines and regulations, as well as other forms of statutes.
It has been observed that women are equally involved in the decision-making process in various forums in the country such as cabinet, parliament, court hearings and business. According to Guyana’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva (UNOG), Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, the country’s efforts towards gender equality have achieved success in several consensus agreements, such as the recently adopted General Recommendation 40 (GR40) by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination, Beijing 1995 Platform for Action and the Global Gender Gap Index.

In a recent letter, Dr. Ramsammy pointed out that GR40 enables women to engage in decision-making processes at global, regional and national levels, while striving for parity.
CEDAW, adopted in 1979, is an international bill of rights for women that defines discrimination and sets national agendas for action. It was ratified by Guyana in 1980. Moreover, although the Beijing Platform mandates a 30 percent quota for women in the state, Guyana has managed to achieve this to some extent.

In fact, Guyana is among the six CARICOM countries with a female head of state. The other countries are Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica and Haiti. Guyana is also one of the countries that have made concerted efforts to achieve the goals of the Beijing Platform for parliaments.
The 2001 constitution stipulates that 33% of electoral rolls for national and local authorities are women. Guyana’s Parliament is currently composed of approximately 40 percent female Members of Parliament (MPs).

It is also important to note that currently in CARICOM, only two countries have achieved Beijing’s target of 30% in the number of parliamentarians – these are Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. Meanwhile, the 2024 Global Gender Gap Index (GGI), launched by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2006, ranks 146 countries based on their progress in economic opportunity, education, health and political leadership.

Guyana was one of 146 countries that met the eligibility criteria for inclusion. Guyana’s GGI performance improved from 35th place with a score of 76.5% in 2024 to 53rd place in 2021 with a score of 72.8%.
The average (average) score for 146 countries was 68.5 percent, meaning Guyana was eight points higher than the global average. Guyana is also ahead of the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) average score of 74.2% in 2024, and Guyana was 2.3% above this average.

The country’s average score for economic participation and opportunities for women is 72.8%, and the country ranks 47th in the world.
Moreover, with President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali’s aggressive mission to engage women and youth in agriculture, the country’s GGI rates will change dramatically.

Last week, President Ali addressed the closing ceremony of the World Food Forum in Rome via video message in which he pledged that women will own 30% of agricultural enterprises in the near future. Both women and young people will own 50%.
Guyana is one of the few countries in Latin America and the Caribbean that has a Commission for Women and Gender Equality. Women are involved in every sector of the country, such as construction, infrastructure, technology and healthcare.
(DPI)