Natl Women’s Commission ready to update gender policy

It’s been eight years since the National Gender Policy was developed and according to the National Women’s Commission, it’s high time for a review and revision of the document. With that in mind, the commission is hosting a two-day consultation with stakeholders to get some feedback on how to make the policy more applicable to the country and to include provisions for women’s rights. We spoke to executive director of the National Women’s Commission, Ann-Marie Williams about the policy and pending revisions.

Ann-Marie Williams, Executive Dir., Natl Women’s Commission
“The policy is being looked at under the five thematic areas; education and skills training, health, violence-producing conditions, we’re looking at women in decision making/legal issues confronting women and we’re also looking at wealth and income generation. Those are the five thematic areas and we’re just saying that after we address these areas in the policy as to how to go about it, let’s look at what time line you can put to actually get these things done. So those are just basically the indicators. How will we achieve it, what time, what course of action, and how will you take to get there.”

Delahnie Bain
“You’re revising the policy. What areas—in what areas do you think it’s lacking as it is now?”

Ann-Marie Williams
“The information coming out of the two day consultation, which will be a plan of action, will inform the larger review of the policy. We’ll do a lit review with new information. We’ll definitely add a CEDAW component because although the policy is an excellent document, it’s sort of weak on women’s rights. We’ll also add in the 2007 periodic report and the recommendations coming out of the United Nations on CEDAW and we’ll ad the indicators on to the policy.”

Stakeholders attending the consultations include the Women’s Department, WIN-Belize, the Ministries of Health and Education, UNICEF, PAHO and U.N.D.P.