women's autonomy and politics of gender in

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Women's Autonomy a n d Politicso f Gender i n Guyana

The HumanDevelopmentReport,1995 demonstrates hat no country n the world treatswomenaswell as it does its men. Even so, the HDR ranks Guyana airly high on its gender-relatedindicators.Thispaper is an attempt o analysethe comnplexitiesf women'sautonomy n Guyana.

MAITREYIDAS

W omen's autonomy is an impor-tantcorollary of development inthe widest sense - of enlargingwomen's choices and in the attainment offull personhood [Nussbaum and Glover1995].Thedegreeof autonomythatwomenhave is determined by various historical,culturaland economic factors. Thus, in theCaribbean,women have greater autonomythan do women in south Asia (see HumanDevelopment Report, 1995). The purposeof this paper is to analyse the complexityof women's autonomy inGuyana- a smallCaribbean country undergoing profoundsocio-economic transformation. argue hatwomen's autonomy in Guyanais theprod-uctof several factors, butat the most basiclevel it is shaped by the contradictionbetween the gender ideology of maledominance and the reality of women'scontrol over their personal and domesticspheres.This contradictionhas also shapedpublic policy which tries torelegatewomento the domestic sphere, when reality at themicro - the personal, the household andcommunity - level, does not distinguishbetween public and private spheres.Guyana (formerly British Guiana) is anAnglophone country in South America,which identifies politically, culturallyandhistorically with the Caribbean. It iscurrently in the process of restructuringits highly indebted economy through astructural adjustment programme. Itssocial indicators are at the lower end ofthe Caribbeancontinuum - closer to Haitithan oBarbados.Guyana s apost-socialist,post-colonial country, which attained in-dependence from British rule in 1966. Ithas had a period of restricted democracyin the 1980s. From 1992, since the firstfreeelections, democratic trendshave beenstrengthening but the ethnic divisionsbetween the Afro-Guyanese and the Indo-Guyanese populations have confoundeditsdevelopment objectives. Indo-Guyanesecomprise49.5 percent, Afro-Guyanese35.6

per cent, and Amerindians or indigenouspersons account for6.8 percent of the totalpopulation. The remaining 15 per cent ofthe population is made up of Chinese,Portuguese and mixed heritage persons[PanAmerican HealthOrganisation1998].Women's autonomyinGuyanahas beenshaped by its unique history of colonialrule, slavery. and indentureship, its eth-nic composition, its proximity to the USand its small size. The two majorpoliticalparties, the Afro-Guyanese dominatedPeople's National Congress andthe Indo-Guyanese dominatedPeople's ProgressiveParty have been locked in a struggle forpower in the post-independence decades.Voting is along ethnic lines and the elec-tions of 1997 were marked by violence.The political and economic problems thecountry in the last three decades have ledto massive emigration andthe flight of theeducated middle class. This scenario hasalso had an effect on the politics of genderand on women's solidarity in Guyana.Data on demographic and social indica-tors in Guyana are poor and unreliable.Thus, most UN publications such as theState of the World's Childrenby UNICEFor the Human Development Reports byUNDP have no data for Guyana for manyindicators.However, Guyanaranksreason-ably high on the indices of genderequalitydeveloped by the Human DevelopmentReports [UNDP 1995]. While on theHumanDevelopment Index(HDI),Guyanaranked 105 out of 174 countries, on theGenderRelatedDevelopment Index(GDI),it ranked 70th out of 130 countries forwhich the index was computed. The GDIadjusts the HDI for gender equality in lifeexpectancy, educational attainment andincome. The GenderEmpowermentMea-sure (GEM) is an index of women's par-ticipation in the economic, political andprofessional spheres. Guyanaranked25thamong the 113 countries for which theGEM was computed.

The research in this paper is promptedin part by seeking an inquiry into thedimensions of women's autonomy as a'reality check', given high levels of genderequality as evidenced by the GEM andGDI. It is based on participatory fieldresearch in Guyana, as also on analysis ofavailable sources of national data.The term women's 'autonomy' hasgained currencyin development and femi-nist literature in preference to women's'status', which is considered to be morelimitedinscope. Thus,women's autonomyhas come to denote the independence thatwomen have in their functioning, whilewomen's status denotes women's posi-tion.Autonomy thus takes into account theactivities that women engage in and thepower thatthey exercise as a consequenceof their status, while the status can be

arguedto be a more staticconcept thatdoesnot focus on women's activerole insociety.Mason (1986:285,1993:21) uses theterms 'status' and 'position' to includeautonomy, when she explains that'women's position here is taken to meanwomen's control overresources,comparedto that of men; the degree of their au-tonomy from men's control; or other as-pects of their privilege or oppression thatarise from society's institutions' (empha-sis mine). She furtherpoints out that theconcept is an elusive one, but is intrinsicto the relations of inequality that womenhave with men and in their engagementwith their environment.

Shrijvers (1985, cited in Van der Aa,1995:16) hasanalysed women's autonomyby economic, political, social-cultural andphysicaldimensions. VanderAa(1995:17)also points out that the definition ofautonomy can vary by political perspec-tive. It can furtherbe analysed at differentlevels - personal or the micro level, andthe organisational or macro level. In ad-dition to this, we can look at autonomy atthetheoretical level or at the level of actual

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dependence on men. Thus even in thecontext of absentee adult males in Carib-bean households, female kin provide thesupport and sustenance that in other cul-tures is the function of males.I must point out at the outset that therankingof Guyana in Table 1 is an aggre-gate ranking based on aggregate socialindicators. The reality is confounded byclass, age, reproductive status, geographyand ethnicity. The scoring in Table 1 isperhapscloser to the reality of the averagelower and middle income woman. Forinstance, western notions of propriety arelikely to persist more in the upper classhouseholds, thusaccordingwomen a lowerlevel of autonomy, as Momsen (1993) andBesson (1993) have argued in the case ofthe Caribbean. Similarly, some studiesalludeto the factthatIndo-GuyaneseHinduwomen are likely to emulate the Hinduideal of womanhood, which is essentiallylowering to women's autonomy as com-paredto Afro-Guyanese notion of woman-hood [Jayawardena 1980; Trotz 1996].Similarly, older women have greatercon-trol of their lives than younger women,especially adolescents.In scoring women's autonomy, we findthat Guyanese women rank high on thedemographicandkinship-family ndicatorsbut low on the economic indicators. Thehigh rankingon the first two sets of indi-cators is prevalent across the Caribbean.Ithas beenattributed othreesets of reasons.First, heexistence of slaveryand ndenture-ship imposed on women added responsi-bilities and independence. Second, in thelegal system of theAnglophone Caribbean(as distinct from the Francophone and theHispanicCaribbean)women andmen haveequal legal rights of inheritance. Third,Caribbeanwomen have very high educa-tionalattainment ompared ootherdevelop-ingcountries.Guyanahasafemale literacyrate of 94 per cent.While we have dwelt at some length onthe reasons for high levels of personalautonomy, the reasons for low levels ofeconomic autonomy are morecomplex. Atthe macro level, women's access to skills,wages, occupations and services such ashealth and education has been limited bytraditionalconceptions of women's workand place. The low position of Guyanesewomen relative to men on the economicindicatorsbecame morepronounced in thecontext of macroeconomic crisis of the1980s [IDB/PAHO 1996]. Women havetended to remain within the traditionalspheres of work and skills. Data on occu-

pation characteristics from the HouseholdIncome andExpenditureSurvey, 1992-93(HIES) show thatwomen outnumber menin 'soft' sectors such as education, healthand social work, and in occupations re-lated to hotels and restaurants.Men tendto dominate occupations related to agri-culture, hunting, fishing, mining, manu-facturing transport,storage, communica-tion, and construction. The latter are alsothe occupations which contribute to themajorpartof the Gross Domestic Product.Educational enrolments at the post-secondary and tertiarylevels also displaya strongly gendered dimension [MOE1994-95]. Almost twice as many womenas men enrol in courses in education andthe social sciences in the University ofGuyana, while almost thrice as many menas women enrol in the faculty of agri-culture. Similarly, gender differences arealso strong in the faculties of naturalsciences, and arts, where more men enrolin the scientific disciplines and morewomen enrol in the arts.Perhapsthe mostglaring difference in enrolment is evidentin the faculty of technology, where only9 per cent of the students were women in1994-95. Enrolments in the vocationalinstitutions show a similar pattern, withwomen dominating the traditional areassuch as secretarial science and catering.The occupation where the participationofmen and women is almost equal is in thearea of trading and commerce, althoughmen outnumberwomen slightly. Men andwomen areequallylikely to enrolincoursesin commerce.Women's autonomy also has a bearingon their access to health [Dreze and Sen1995]. The impediments to women's ac-cess to health in Guyana are rooted in themacroeconomic situation and in a genderideology thatdiscourages theutilisation ofcertain kinds of healthservices, as we shalldiscuss later. In terms of the relationshipbetween women's autonomy and access tohealth,two importantaspectsemerge.First,the macroeconomic situation has led toproblems in the available health servicesand in lowered economic autonomy ofwomen, both of which impede theirabilityto access care.Second, physical autonomyof Guyanese women is compromised byagenderideology that facilitates male con-trol over their reproductive health. Thiscombination of factors has led to a lowarticulation of reproductive health needs,low access to contraception, and lowutilisation of antenatalcare facilities, eventhough they are available.

In sum, then, it is relevant to analyseautonomy in terms of the micro and themacro levels. At the micro level, as de-noted by personal, household and commu-nity level autonomy, women have morecontroloverdecision-makingandresources.At the macro or organisational level, theiraccess to economic resources such asemployment, skills, wages and services islower than that of men. Or, it is moreprecise to say that women have access tothe more traditional kinds of employmentand skills thatprevent them fromassertinggreater autonomy in the macro sphere.Thus, women in Guyanahave control overtheirpersonal lives andresources, but thisdoes not translate into greater access topublic resources or the influence to createbetter access. Better access to public re-sources is contingent upon a number offactors, notably changes in the system ofgender stratification, a strong women'smovement, and women's voices in publicdecision-making.

Women's Autonomy in PublicSpherePolitical autonomy of women is signi-fied by their participation in various loraat the community andnational levels. Thepolicy rhetoric in Guyana is very support-Table 2: Key Indicators of Health inGuyana1

Indicator ValueEstimatedpopulation 770,000Urbanpopulation percent) 31.1Crudebirth ate 29.2Crudedeathrate 7.3TFR 2.8Lifeexpectancyat birth 64Male 62.1Female 67.7Literacy ate(percent) 95Male 96Female 94Percapitanationalhealthexpenditure USD) 44Nationalhealthexpenditure s apercent of GNP 7.5IMR 27..8Maternalmortalityate(per10,000 livebirths) 180Birthsattendedbytrainedpersonnel(per cent) 93Contraceptive se bywomen-allmethods(per ent) 31Populationwithaccess tohealthservices (percent) 84

Note:1 Health tasticsinGuyana re notorious ortheirnureliability. hus, even the sameorganisationPAHO)ites differentiguresfor he same indicator,asing ton differentsources, and acknowledgesthe problem[PAHO1998].Source: Pan American Health Organisation(PAHO),1996; 1998

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Women supporters of opposition partiesparticipated in large numbers in streetdemonstrationexpressing protest,indicat-ing their involvement in the democraticprocess and in party politics. There werealso alleged incidents of violence againstwomenduring hesedemonstrations,wherethe victim's ethnic identity became thesubject of debate anddiscussion. This andother political developments have createda further rift in the women's movement,which is alreadydominated by ethnic andparty politics.The HumanDevelopment Report, 1995demonstrates thatno country in the worldtreats women as well as it does its men.Even so, the HDR ranks Guyana fairlyhigh on its gender-related indicators. Thispaper is an attempt to analyse the com-plexities of women's autonomy inGuyana.We find that while the country rankshighon personal and micro level indicators ofwomen's autonomy, itrankslow on macroand economic indictors. This is mediatedby a contradiction between ideology ofgenderand the living reality. Public policyhas given credence to the value of womenas domestic actors, even though their livesdisplay active involvement in managingtheir resources. Thus, women's access toresources has been limited by policies,even though theircontrol of theirpersonalresources is high. [1I

Note[Thispaperdraws rom heexperiencesand nsightsof women in the Guyanese women's movement- notably, Indra Chandrapal,Andaiye, JaniceJackson, Jocelyn Dow, Magda Pollard, PatSheerattan, and innumerable women incommunitiesthat I visited and worked with. Anearlier versionhas benefited from the commentsof VandaRadzig.CarlosFelipe Martinez,UNDPGuyana,was very supportiveof this researchandcommentedat various stages of this paper.]1 Informationon women in decision-makingfrom the Women's Affairs Bureau and The

GuyanaChronicle,February16, 1998.References

Barrow, Christine (1993): 'Small Farm FoodProduction ndGender n Barbados' in JanetMomsen (ed), Womenand Change in theCaribbean, Ian Randle, Kingston; IndianaUniversity Press, Bloomington andIndianapolis,James Currey,London.Besson, Jean (1993): 'Reputationand Respect-ability Reconsidered:A New PerspectiveonAfro-CaribbeanPeasant Women' in JanetMomsen (ed), Womenand Change in theCaribbean.Delph,Y andF Nunes (1997): 'MakingAbortionLawReformWork-StepsandSlips nGuyana'(Parts1 and2), ReproductiveHealthMatters,No 9:66-76.

Dreze, Jean and Amartya Sen (1995): India:Economic Developmentand Social Oppor-tunity,OxfordUniversityPress, New Delhi.Ministry of Education Government of Guyana(1995): Digest of Education Statistics ofGuyana 1994-1995.Government of Guyana (1996): NationalDevelopmentStrategy, (Draft).Guyana Bureauof Statistics (1993): ReportonHousehold Income and ExpenditureSurvey(HIES) 1992-93.IDB/PAHO/WHO(1996): CaribbeanRegionalHealth Study.Jayawardena, handra1980): 'Culture ndEthni-city in Guyanaand Fiji', Man, Volume 15,Issue 3.Mbilu John et al (1996): 'Maternal Deaths inGeorgetown Public Hospital - 1994-96'(unpublished).Mason, Karen(1986): 'The Status of Women:Conceptual and Methodological Issues inDemographicStudies', Sociological Forum,Vol 1, Number2.Mason,KarenO(1993): 'TheImpactof Women'sPosition on DemographicChangeduringtheCourseof Development'in Nora Federici,KMason and Sogner (eds), Women'sPositionand DemographicChange,ClarendonPress,Oxford.Momsen, Janet (ed) (1993): 'Introduction' inWomenand Change in the Caribbean.Nussbaum, Martha and Jonathan Glover (eds)(1995): Women,CultureandDevelopment:AStudyofHumanCapabilities,ClarendonPress,Oxford.

Olwig, Karen Fog (1993): 'The MigrationExperience:Nevisian WomenAt Home AndAbroad' in JanetMomsen (ed), WomenandChange in the Caribbean.PAHO(1998):HealthConditionof theAmericas,Washington,DC.

Pollard, Everton (1996): 'Population andHousing Census of the CommonwealthCaribbean, 1990-1991', National CensusReport Guyana.Peake,Linda 1993): 'TheDevelopmentand Roleof Women'sPoliticalOrganisationsnGuyana'in Janet Momsen (ed), Womenand Changein the Caribbean.Scott,Gloria(1997): 'HealthNeeds of CaribbeanWomen' in Leo-Rhynieet al (eds), Gender-

A Caribbean MultidisciplinaryPerspective,Ian Randle Publishers.The World Bank (1991): Gender and PovertyinIndia, Washington,DC.- (1994): Guyana: Strategies for ReducingPoverty, Washington,DC.Trotz, Alissa (1996): 'Gender, Ethnicity andFamilial Ideology in Georgetown, Guyana:HouseholdStructure ndFemaleLabourForceParticipationReconsidered', The EuropeanJournal of Development Research, Vol 8,No 1,June1996,pp177-99,FrankCassLondon.UNDP (1995): Human Development Report,Oxford UniversityPress, New York.UNDP Guyana (1997a): Guyana HumanDevelopment Report 1996.

- (1997b):Reporton theWorkshopn AdolescentReproductiveHealth.UNICEF(1997): A SituationAnalysis of Womenand Children in Guyana.Van derAa,Pauline(1995):ChangingPower andAutonomyof the Caribbean Women,WIDUnit, Santiago,UN ECLAC, Chile.Williams, Brackette(1996): 'A Race of Men, AClass of Women' in BracketteWilliams (ed),WomenOutof Place: TheGenderof Agencyand the Race of Nationality, pp 129-58,Routledge, New York, London.Women's AffairsBureau,Government f Guyana(1994): 'Changes in the Situationof Womenin Guyana: 1980-1993', Georgetown.

REVIEW OF INDUSTRY AND MANAGEMENTNovember 27, 1999

Economic Reforms and Foreign TradePolicies: Case Studyof Apparel and Machine Tools Industries - Shuji UchikawaForeign-ControlledManufacturing irms in India:Long-TermTrends - Suma AthreyeSandeep KapurModern and IndigenousPerceptions in Small Enterprises - Jan BrouwerSmall-Scale Industries n West Bengal, 1971-97:Data Analysis for Study of Growth - RobinMukherjeePranab KumarDasUttam KumarBhattacharyaLabour Market underTrade Liberalisation n India:Some Issues ConcerningReallocation - Deepika ChakravartyManagementEducation:A CriticalAppraisal - Bernard D'MelloTheReview of Industry and Management appearsas asupplement o the last ssuesof February,May and November.

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