Gnawing at the Seams: Challenges for Contemporary Jamaican Feminism and the Equality Question

Long before the term “feminism” existed, women always sought opportunities for social and economic empowerment, whether through welfare-oriented schemes or through other forms of activism. The 1970s Caribbean experience marked significant developments in feminism where women advocated, and through those efforts, permeated state institutions to achieve legal shifts in the interest of themselves and their children. During that era, both local and global women’s activism converged to address issues of inequality and discrimination and, as a result, reaped positive results where basic reforms were concerned. In Jamaica, there was extensive legal reform as several new laws were enacted as well as amendments made to existing laws. This was especially significant in the matters related to equality of pay despite sex, legitimizing the status of all children, maintenance, maternity leave, inter alia. Although these were major achievements, there were still issues that continued to contribute to asymmetrical gender relations. This paper, therefore, discusses how women’s achievements within a patriarchal space were not indicative of changes in conventional gender ideologies; more importantly, it questions the extent to which the legacy of the past, by itself, within the context of women’s achievements and women’s politics, is capable of charting new directions for contemporary feminism.

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Main Author: Shirley, Beverly
Format: Article biblioteca
Language:en_US
Published: 2013-07-03
Subjects:Caribbean society, feminism, women's movement,
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/2139/15840
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spelling oai:oai:uwispace.sta.uwi.edu:2139:2139-158402013-07-04T01:05:18Z Gnawing at the Seams: Challenges for Contemporary Jamaican Feminism and the Equality Question Shirley, Beverly Caribbean society feminism women's movement Long before the term “feminism” existed, women always sought opportunities for social and economic empowerment, whether through welfare-oriented schemes or through other forms of activism. The 1970s Caribbean experience marked significant developments in feminism where women advocated, and through those efforts, permeated state institutions to achieve legal shifts in the interest of themselves and their children. During that era, both local and global women’s activism converged to address issues of inequality and discrimination and, as a result, reaped positive results where basic reforms were concerned. In Jamaica, there was extensive legal reform as several new laws were enacted as well as amendments made to existing laws. This was especially significant in the matters related to equality of pay despite sex, legitimizing the status of all children, maintenance, maternity leave, inter alia. Although these were major achievements, there were still issues that continued to contribute to asymmetrical gender relations. This paper, therefore, discusses how women’s achievements within a patriarchal space were not indicative of changes in conventional gender ideologies; more importantly, it questions the extent to which the legacy of the past, by itself, within the context of women’s achievements and women’s politics, is capable of charting new directions for contemporary feminism. 2013-07-03T18:29:28Z 2013-07-03T18:29:28Z 2013-07-03 Article http://hdl.handle.net/2139/15840 en_US Issue 2; application/pdf
institution UWI TT
collection DSpace
country Trinidad y Tobago
countrycode TT
component Bibliográfico
access En linea
databasecode dig-uwi-tt
tag biblioteca
region Caribe
libraryname UWI library system TT
language en_US
topic Caribbean society
feminism
women's movement
Caribbean society
feminism
women's movement
spellingShingle Caribbean society
feminism
women's movement
Caribbean society
feminism
women's movement
Shirley, Beverly
Gnawing at the Seams: Challenges for Contemporary Jamaican Feminism and the Equality Question
description Long before the term “feminism” existed, women always sought opportunities for social and economic empowerment, whether through welfare-oriented schemes or through other forms of activism. The 1970s Caribbean experience marked significant developments in feminism where women advocated, and through those efforts, permeated state institutions to achieve legal shifts in the interest of themselves and their children. During that era, both local and global women’s activism converged to address issues of inequality and discrimination and, as a result, reaped positive results where basic reforms were concerned. In Jamaica, there was extensive legal reform as several new laws were enacted as well as amendments made to existing laws. This was especially significant in the matters related to equality of pay despite sex, legitimizing the status of all children, maintenance, maternity leave, inter alia. Although these were major achievements, there were still issues that continued to contribute to asymmetrical gender relations. This paper, therefore, discusses how women’s achievements within a patriarchal space were not indicative of changes in conventional gender ideologies; more importantly, it questions the extent to which the legacy of the past, by itself, within the context of women’s achievements and women’s politics, is capable of charting new directions for contemporary feminism.
format Article
topic_facet Caribbean society
feminism
women's movement
author Shirley, Beverly
author_facet Shirley, Beverly
author_sort Shirley, Beverly
title Gnawing at the Seams: Challenges for Contemporary Jamaican Feminism and the Equality Question
title_short Gnawing at the Seams: Challenges for Contemporary Jamaican Feminism and the Equality Question
title_full Gnawing at the Seams: Challenges for Contemporary Jamaican Feminism and the Equality Question
title_fullStr Gnawing at the Seams: Challenges for Contemporary Jamaican Feminism and the Equality Question
title_full_unstemmed Gnawing at the Seams: Challenges for Contemporary Jamaican Feminism and the Equality Question
title_sort gnawing at the seams: challenges for contemporary jamaican feminism and the equality question
publishDate 2013-07-03
url http://hdl.handle.net/2139/15840
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