(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Caribbean Community has made, “significant progress over the last decades in achieving equality between women and men”, says CARICOM Deputy Secretary-General, Amb. Lolita Applewhaite.

In an address to mark International Women’s Day on Monday, March 8, at the CARICOM Secretariat, held simultaneously with the Launch of the CARICOM Advocacy for Gender Justice programme, The Dep. Secretary-General said that this had been through legislations, gender mainstreaming, the institutionalisation of gender programmes, and a proliferation of studies and policy analyses which together have fostered a better understanding of the complementary gender roles.

Ambassador Applewhaite also attributed these strides in gender equality to enhanced advocacy by civil society partners, and “extraordinarily committed individuals,” a number of whom she added, had received the CARICOM Triennial Award for Women.

However, the Deputy Secretary-General said, greater efforts were necessary to speed up progress toward gender equality and justice; primarily in areas including the harmonisation of national legislation with international instruments; promotion of secure livelihoods; ensuring access to social protection and strengthening public interventions to address domestic violence.

She made special reference to three outstanding women of Haiti who died in the January 12 earthquake: Myriam Merlet, Anne Marie Coriolan, and Magalie Marcelin, who during their lifetime worked earnestly to secure justice and empowerment of women and were the “lynchpins” of the fledgling women’s movement in Haiti.

The Deputy Secretary-General challenged the Community to honour the contributions those women had made for women’s rights by intensifying their efforts nationally, regionally and globally “to safeguard women’s rights to health, nutrition, safety and dignity, not only for the benefit of those who suffer in the post earthquake period in Haiti, but also for those who have experienced the trauma of the catastrophe in Chile and all vulnerable groups around the World,” she concluded.