Financing substantive gender

equality within a new SDG

framework

High-Level Consultation “Step it Up: Political Leadership for

Substantive Gender Equality and the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Caribbean Small

Island Developing States (SIDS)”

Antigua and Barbuda, June 23, 2015

Presentation prepared by Marsha Caddle

Technical Cooperation Division

Financing context

A discussion on new and

transformative financing models

for gender equality must take

place squarely in the context of,

rather than be marginal to, the

region’s overall macro- and socio-

economic constraints and

solutions, which include…

Negative and low growth

SOURCES: NATIONAL STATISTICS OFFICES, CENTRAL BANKS AND CDB

*DATA FOR 2008–13 WAS REPRODUCED FROM STATISTICS PROVIDED BY BMCS, WHILE FIGURES FOR 2014 ARE PRELIMINARY CDB

ESTIMATES

Growth (%) in Real Output, 2008-14*

High debt

Poverty

Country Year % Poor Population % Indigent Population % Vulnerable Population Population Size

Anguilla 2009 5.8 0.0 17.7 14,000

Antigua & Barbuda 2006 18.0 3.7 10.0 83,916

Bahamas 2001 9.3 -- -- 301,606

Barbados 2009 19.3 9.1 10.40 272,750

Belize 2009 41.3 15.8 13.8 333,200

BVI 2002 22.0 0.5 -- 23,000

Cayman Islands 2008 1.9 0.0 3.7 52,295

Dominica 2009 28.8 3.1 11.5 67,922

Grenada 2008 37.7 2.4 14.6 130,722

Guyana 2006 36.1 18.6 -- 760,689

Haiti 2012 58.6 24.7 -- 10,173,775

Jamaica 2009 16.5 -- -- 2,695,600

Montserrat 2009 36.0 3.0 20.0 4,900

St. Kitts & Nevis 2009 21.8 1.0 13.8 51,752

St. Lucia 2005 29.0 1.6 16.2 164,791

St. Vincent 2009 30.2 2.9 18.2 109,269

Trinidad and Tobago 2007 17.0 -- -- 1,325,700

Turks & Caicos Isl. 2012 21.6 0.0 11.40 31,500

Total16,597,3

Mean25.1 5.8 13.4

Unemployment

Annual Average / Mid-year Unemployment Rates, 2005-14

SOURCES: NATIONAL STATISTICS OFFICES, CENTRAL BANKS

NOTES: RATES FOR THE BAHAMAS, BELIZE, THE CAYMAN ISLANDS AND ST. LUCIA ARE AS AT MID-YEAR. RATES FOR BARBADOS, JAMAICA AND TRINIDAD

AND TOBAGO ARE ANNUAL AVERAGES. THE 2014 RATE FOR TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO IS AS AT MARCH.

Household dependency

Gender and Economic

Security in the Caribbean

• Structural and cyclical/seasonal unemployment – higher for women than men on average; higher for men in countries where contraction has been driven by construction sector

• Working poor - underemployment also higher for women; gender-based earnings gap; high levels of informality; educational equality does not correlate well with income equality

• High dependency ratios in poor, female-headed households; over 50% of poor households headed by women

Other Macroeconomic Challenges & Some

Policy Responses Undertaken “Post-Crisis”

• Low productivity and competitiveness driven by limited regional integration of transportation and logistics, high costs of doing business

• Vulnerability of infrastructure and agricultural production to weather events and climate change

• Average national savings rate 15% of GDP 2003-2013 – half the average rate in emerging and developing economies low reserve levels

• Variable performance in tourism, construction, agriculture and manufacturing; financial services

• Fiscal restructuring

• High unemployment – e.g. St. Lucia 2014

Q1 Q2 Q3

22.6% 23.8% 24.9%

Other Macroeconomic Challenges & Some

Policy Responses Undertaken “Post-Crisis”(II)

• In some cases, initial measures aimed at offsetting food and fuel price increases; changes in income tax thresholds, zero setting on import tariffs, subsidies to farmers; expansion of public assistance through increased monthly assistance levels, pension levels, and number of beneficiaries

• Eventual reductions in expenditure and social investment –increased unemployment and vulnerability

• Initiatives related to social protection reform and targeting

• Changes in tax structure aimed at increasing revenue

• Focus on enhanced productivity and competitiveness

Implications for Gender

Equality

• Forced savings may imply “forced labour”:

reduced social spending often transfers

costs to the domestic economy

• Changes in tax structure (e.g removal of

VAT zero ratings) may more adversely

affect poor, women-headed households

• Downturn in credit markets affects

women’s access to capital

Imperatives from Caribbean Joint Statement on

Gender Equality and

the Post 2015 and SIDS Agenda

• Freedom from violence and access to justice

• Accessing capabilities

• Economic empowerment

• Leadership

Implementing substantive gender

equality Post-2015

• National action:

Investments in productivity and competitiveness, diversification should also target

informal sector; sectors with potential for women’s participation

Programmes targeting job market re-entry should target women’s labour, skills

Counter-cyclical socio-economic policy measures including financial sector

Data gathering and analysis

Tax incidence analysis (PSIA) and revenue restructuring

• Regional action:

Investments in regional public goods that promote women’s economic empowerment

and freedom of movement e.g. mobility of social insurance

Gender analysis of cross-border transfers and financial flows

Gender analysis of modalities that engage private sector and household sector

• International action:

Partnerships for development; the speed and nature of integration into global markets

Thank you.