Led by Barbara Bailey, this session focused on issues related to women’s positioning in the economy in the Caribbean, with particular attention to the ways in which this standing is shaped by and interconnected with trends in education, training, and social protection.

The following topics were some of the key points of learning and discussion that stemmed from the presentation and interventions by session participants:

• The need for high quality, disaggregated population data to reveal the reality of national social, economic, and educational situations for different groups and to shape effective and impactful interventions in response
• The value of institutionalising a gender perspective within national machinery and creating strong institutional memory on related initiatives so others can benefit from and build on this learning
• Application of educational rights framework (right to, within, and through an education) to advance a nuanced understanding of gendered trends in education in the Caribbean
  • To understand the ways in which women’s and men’s educational and economic experiences can differ, must look beyond enrolment figures and analyse factors such as their positioning within schools, the subjects in which they are clustered, and relative earnings based on educational attainment
• Examples of gender stereotyping and discrimination that persist in schooling and strategies for addressing these
• Women’s lower labour market positioning tied to structural inequalities that tend to value men’s work more highly and create disadvantage for other groups; achieving equality will require changes to these structures
  • The decent work agenda as an example of a response to change perspectives on and extend rights and protections to those clustered in unpaid, vulnerable, and unprotected positions, such as domestic workers, security guards, and informal workers

Led by Roberta Clarke, this session explored the phases in the international response to violence against women and the necessary next steps for the prevention and elimination of the problem.   

The following topics were some of the key points of learning and discussion that stemmed from the presentation and interventions by session participants:

• The evolution of the international response to violence against women
  1. Ending the silence: recognising, naming, and drawing attention to the prevalence of the issue of violence against women; providing services to those experiencing violence (especially domestic or intimate partner violence)
  2. Standard setting: creating and updating of international frameworks that shaped action and national legislation in response to the issue
  3. Mainstreaming: incorporating violence against women in international gender equality frameworks like the Beijing Platform for Action and developing and implementing comprehensive, multi-sectoral approaches to its resolution
• Through state obligations to respect, protect, and fulfill the human rights of all members of society, private violence enters the sphere of public accountability
  • State accountability as the heart of human rights, and strong legal frameworks as the foundation for protection and accountability
• Violence against women as an expression of inequality and discrimination; this violence is called genderbased violence against women in recognition of its perpetration against women as a means of reinforcing harmful, gendered power relations
• Strategies to close gaps in legislative frameworks and the implementation of legislation (e.g. review of possible areas excluded from national legal frameworks; building service provider capabilities in a more systematic way; and the development of multisectoral strategies and action plans)
• Focusing on prevention by addressing social and cultural norms and working with youth

Led by Rosina Wiltshire, this session focused on women’s representation in leadership and decision making spaces in the Caribbean, as well as the roles of various international, regional, and national institutions in advancing gender equality and women’s rights.  

The following topics were some of the key points of learning and discussion that stemmed from the presentation and interventions by session participants:

• Gender equality infrastructure in the region – national gender machinery, CARICOM gender desk, and the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) – and how the various institutions work together
  • Civil society and other international and regional actors are further important stakeholders; necessary to build collaborative and supportive partnerships among these actors to be able to strengthen each others’ work 
• Low levels of women’s representation in decision making positions across the subregion generally, despite some areas of recent progress, early leadership by the Caribbean in this area, and the recognised value of having diverse perspectives in these spaces
  • Possible mechanisms to spur further advances (such as the implementation of temporary special measures) and the importance cultivating an enabling environment that values and promotes women’s leadership – and enshrining this commitment in national discourse and policy – to sustain progress
  • Other institutions to support in reaching greater levels of gender equality in their leadership positions beyond parliament and ministries, such as statutory boards
• Application of a gender perspective in decision making and the creation of legislation and policy should be the responsibility of all who contribute to these processes – not just women – and the widespread adoption of such an approach will require awareness raising, education, and accountability
• Strategies to counter or pre-empt pushback in response to proposed gender equality initiatives (e.g. strategic messaging, cross-party collaboration in legislatures and other alliances, etc.)

This session, led by Maya Trotz, explored the connections between progress in environmental health and gender equality, as well as the ways in which women in the Caribbean are leading on efforts to combat climate change and environmental degradation.

The following topics were some of the key points of learning and discussion that stemmed from the presentation and interventions by session participants:

• The significance of highlighting women’s contributions and perspectives on climate change and environmental issues as part of a solution to rectifying past exclusion
  • Examining how we are learning about the environment and who the teachers are – gender a consideration in these elements as well
• Systems thinking and the SDGs as a framework for understanding the interconnection of gender equality and environmental issues
• The environment is part of individuals’ everyday lives in different ways, particularly through water and sanitation, and experiences can change in gendered and invisible ways based on the availability and quality of resources
  • For example, water is critical to the care and domestic work primarily performed by women; water access and treatment can be an additional responsibility for women-led households and for informal workers who run household food and beverage businesses or roadside grocery stands; and in disasters and other settings, a lack of access to clean water can create health concerns
• Womenled environmental projects in the Caribbean are contributing to improved sanitation, coral reef restoration, and sustainable fisheries, among other positive outcomes, and greater promotion of these efforts will facilitate further knowledge exchange and diffusion of ideas
• Necessary to strengthen understanding of environmental project funding and requirements in the region and assess the extent to which gender responsiveness is incorporated into their design and implementation

Led by Sharon Carter-Burke, this session examined the situation in the Caribbean regarding media portrayals of women, the extent to which women are involved in the media industry, and opportunities for engaging the media to contribute to advancing gender equality.

The following topics were some of the key points of learning and discussion that stemmed from the presentation and interventions by session participants:

• Continuing challenges in women’s representation in the media, both in terms of an absence in industry leadership roles and in the commonly stereotyped portrayal of women in media content, despite some progress in legislation, policy, and media codes of conduct
• Potential for the media to be changemakers in efforts towards gender equality given their influence in the public and ability to disseminate information and strategies for further engaging them in this work (e.g. creating and circulating media pieces, offering gender sensitivity training coverage to the media and media training for gender equality activists and advocates, maintaining ongoing alliances with media houses, etc.)
  • Importance also of engaging other cultural agents like musicians, given the way songs can also shape public sentiments and perceptions
• For actors outside of the media, how to develop strategic messaging to communicate effectively with the public on gender equality issues and initiatives, including the results of international forums like CSW
• The role of social media and civil society organisations in contributing to media monitoring and shaping narratives

Led by Tracy Robinson, this session focused on defining human rights, the specific importance of women’s human rights, and key issue areas in which an emphasis on protecting women’s rights is necessary.

The following topics were some of the key points of learning and discussion that stemmed from the presentation and interventions by session participants:

• Framework for establishing what human rights are and how they are realised
  • Inherent dignity of all people as the basis for human rights from which social, economic and cultural rights are derived
  • Fostering free and full human development as the goal of human rights, with individuals able to achieve the full potential they choose and imagine for themselves
  • Self-autonomy as the mechanism through which human rights and human development are realised 
  • A system of accountability is necessary to ensure that human rights (and the norms that create them) are respected, protected, and fulfilled by the state and other duty bearers; international review processes contribute to this system 
• Specific emphasis on women’s human rights necessary in response to legal and substantive equality gaps for women and men, with recognition that all women will have different needs and priorities within this framework given the intersection and experiences of multiple forms of disadvantage
• Complexities of the topics of equality and nondiscrimination, given that these will not always look like treating all people the same, as evidenced by real-life examples of policy issues where gender norms and stereotypes and other factors shape people’s experiences
  • Importance of understanding how laws and policies impact individuals in practice to determine if the principles of equality and non-discrimination are being upheld
• Women in political and public life, access to education, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and access to education as four issues in the region that require attention from a rights perspective