JAMAICA'S SECOND National Development Report (2005), has called for gender sensitive policies to focus on the needs of rural women. The report notes that as the country tries to cope with the effects of globalisation, women who are one of the most vulnerable groups in society will be at a great disadvantage.
'Given the trend of job losses in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors during the 1980s and 1990s, it is expected that as global trade in the sector intensifies with further liberalisation, women will suffer more than men. It is therefore necessary to do gender specific analysis on implications to globalisation across these industries, and to take greater steps toward promoting gender equality, especially in the rural areas,' notes the report.
It pointed out that women comprise 62 per cent of the rural adult population, and that about 72 per cent of Jamaica's poor live in rural areas and that agriculture is their main source of employment. The report focused on the challenges and opportunities which globalisation presents to Jamaica.
The report is commissioned by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
