WIN advocates new minimum wage

It seems we are always hearing about conferences and strategic planning, but concrete action is harder to come by. The Women’s Issues Network Belize has issued a report, “Woman at Work” on fifty women who attended a recent policy seminar. It highlights the challenges facing women in the Belizean work force. Coordinator Gayla Fuller promises that her program’s commitment towards improving the work status of women in Belize will be shown through action not merely words. But Fuller says changes in public attitude are desperately needed since many women settle for less pay than men for the same job.

Gayla Fuller, Coordinator, Women Issues Network Belize

“The unemployment rate for women is twice as high as that for men, that women are more likely to have lower paying jobs and that they go to, that they go on longer periods of unemployment. So the focus is going to be one single minimum wage across the border for all, especially for domestic workers and shop assistants.”

“We’re just starting with information gathering. The committee is going to meet again and decide who we are going to target. But we’re going to get the public, the community involved and that means that the committee, the campaign committee, is going to start working on changes in policies, laws and public attitude overall.”

The Women’s Issues Network Belize was formed in 1993 with the express purpose of improving social and economic opportunities for women and their families.