Abstract
Quantitative in nature, this chapter presents the results on the introduction of, and participation in, the women-friendly Bills in the Houses of Parliament, by gender. The women-friendly legislation are those which had some elements addressing childcare, domestic violence, sexual offences, reproductive rights, labour and employment and family matters. Bridging the gender gap in Bill piloting is impossible with the significant gender disparity in the legislature. Of the 21 Bills, six were introduced by a woman who was a Cabinet Minister. Women legislators were more likely to participate in the debates than their male counterparts. The participation levels for women MPs and Senators were 47.1% and 56.1%, respectively compared to 10.2% and 31.4% for men MPs and Senators, respectively.
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Notes
- 1.
The listing of Acts at ‘Gordon House’ indicates that as of 31 December 2013 there were 602 Acts, governing the laws of Jamaica. The Acts are available in portable document format (PDF) on the Ministry of Justice’s website and are classified under 31 legal topics including Employment, Family, Health and Safety.
- 2.
Bills introduced into either Houses of Parliament, but did not make it to debate stage, or passed into law, were not included.
- 3.
They lobbied for legislation that would grant 3 months maternity leave with pay and up to three additional months without pay, to all female employees, after an employment period of 1 year.
- 4.
A term used to refer to MPs who are not Cabinet Ministers or Opposition spokespersons.
- 5.
The day’s agenda for the respective Houses of Parliament.
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Coore-Hall, J.A. (2020). Bringing Women’s Issues to the Legislative Agenda: Gender, Bill Sponsorship and Participation. In: Feminist Advocacy and Activism in State Institutions. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34679-9_3
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