PEOPLES UNITED PARTY Charting Greater Pathways For Belizean Women As Nation Builders

2014

INTRODUCTION
Women in todays evolving society continue to have expanding roles and responsibilities. They are care-givers, income earners and community activists who care for their families and invariably neglect themselves. It is critical that their physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being be prioritized to help them lead fulfilling and more balanced lives. The Peoples United Party (PUP) is the only political party in the history of Belize that has truly acknowledged the critical role of women to national development. The PUP has always understood that women must have full equality in the exercise of political and economic power and that they must be fully and equally involved in decision-making at all levels so that they may make their contribution to the goals of equality, development and democracy. The PUP administration of 1998-2008 led the implementation of many initiatives with regards to policy development, legislative change, and programs that addressed the issues faced by our Belizean women. These initiatives were guided by such key instruments as the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the Outcomes Document, the Commonwealth Plan of Action, the CARICOM Regional Plan of Action, the Millennium Development Goals, the Convention of Belem Do Para - Inter-american Commission for Women, the National Plan of Action for Children and Adolescents, the National Gender Policy, the Sexual and Reproductive Health Policy and the Peoples United Party Womens Agenda. The Peoples United Party is committed to the advancement and empowerment of women, the pursuit of gender equality and womens access to justice. We recognize that it is only through multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary approaches that we can achieve change towards womens empowerment and gender equality. Cooperation between government and non-governmental organizations, civil society groups, church and faith-based groups, international partners, and other stakeholders must continue to be enhanced to bring about positive and effective change for the women in our country. We are living in times when we can no longer afford to work in isolation. We need to maximize the use of our resources and network with each other to accomplish our common goals. Our Womens Agenda 2014, under the theme Charting Greater Pathways for Belizean Women as Nation Builders focuses on six critical areas: Education and Skills Training; Health and Wellness; Socio-Cultural/Political; Economic Empowerment; Land, Housing and Property Rights; and Legal. Each area has specific goals aimed at addressing the urgent needs of our Belizean women and creating more opportunities for women. To fully achieve these goals we must all commit to continue doing our part in the advancement and empowerment of women in Belize. It is our hope that you will join us as we move forward, more determined than ever, to create a nation under God with justice and opportunity for all.

I. EDUCATION AND SKILLS TRAINING

1. Bring about parity for girls and women from Pre-school through Tertiary education including all technical and vocational programs. 2. Ensure that differently abled girls and women have equal access to education and employment. 3. Expand and sustain relevant skills training for girls and women in rural communities to provide the skills and abilities for employment and income generation. 4. Develop lifelong learning programs to benefit women with skills and knowledge beyond those acquired earlier in life. 5. Include the issue of sexual harassment of girls in primary and secondary schools in the National Education Policy. 6. 7. Improve education and skills training programs for women in prisons. Strengthen and expand the Gender Awareness Safe School Program initiated

by the Womens Department.

II. HEALTH AND WELLNESS

1. Develop and implement holistic health and wellness programs in urban and rural areas to address womens physical, mental, social and spiritual wellness. 2. Allocate adequate budgetary, human and administrative resources to ensure that womens health programs, beyond safe motherhood, receive an adequate share of the overall health budget. 3. Evaluate and improve the quality of and access to family health services countrywide including ante-natal, maternity and post-natal services. 4. Co-operate and co-ordinate with existing cancer care and prevention programs that focus on increasing national awareness and early detection for both women and children. 5. Strengthen the prevention and response programs for gender-based violence, mental health and HIV/AIDS for women, girls and children. 6. Promote and support networking between existing shelters for victims of domestic violence and provide legal support as well as access to wellness programs. 7. Strengthen and ensure effective and comprehensive support services for all victims of family violence, rape, incest, sexual assault, and other forms of genderbased violence and especially for women and girls in rural communities. 8. Strengthen rehabilitation programs for perpetrators of domestic violence. 9. Ensure health services are sensitive to the needs of differently abled women. 10. Upgrade services and improve the existing conditions at the psychiatric hospital.

III. SOCIO-CULTURAL/POLITICAL
1. Develop policies that address the quality and accessibility of child care. 2. Review and overhaul the criteria for the non-contributory pension scheme for women 70 years and older. 3. Maintain a Special Envoy position to represent and advocate for Belizean women, girls and children. 4. Establish an Unemployment Benefit Program for single women heads of household who have become unemployed and have no other source of income. 5. Conduct a comprehensive review of the Domestic Violence Unit to improve on its responsiveness and effectiveness. 6. Highlight and promote women in arts and culture at the local, regional and international level. 7. Celebrate the achievements of Belizean women on International Womens Day.

8. Promote measures to ensure womens participation at the highest levels in the public service. 9. Develop and implement policies to ensure the equitable political participation of women in Belize at all levels of political office. 10. Develop continuous leadership training and opportunities for women and girls.

IV. ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT

1. Strengthen the Employment and Enterprise Development Unit of the Ministry of Labour to ensure equitable access to employment for women. 2. Partner with the private sector to promote inclusive and equitable access to affordable financial services, market and trade opportunities for women in rural and urban areas. 3. Encourage and support service sector industries to provide an opportunity for the unique productive skills of women in rural areas. 4. Provide incentives for businesses that provide equal opportunity employment for women. 5. Promote and support womens cooperatives, particularly for non-traditional businesses, including small scale agricultural and rural enterprises. 6. Recognize the monetary value of unpaid work such as the work of care-givers, and homemakers.

V. LAND, HOUSING AND PROPERTY RIGHTS

1. Enhance and enforce a policy and legislative framework so women have access to and own real propertyland and housing. 2. Review Land and Housing Policies to provide equitable access to affordable housing finance for single women. 3. Provide fiscal incentives to businesses and financial institutions which contribute

to the construction and financing of affordable housing for women.

VI. LEGAL
1. Undertake a comprehensive review of legislation in Belize so as to ensure the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and girls. 2. Expand and strengthen legal aid services.

3. Continue to provide continuous gender sensitive training of judicial and law enforcement officers. 4. Establish specific preventive and punitive measures to overcome trafficking and sexual exploitation of women such as sex tourism. 5. Introduce access to affordable DNA paternity tests.

6. Enact and implement measures as are necessary to ensure gender equality and fairness in the workplace. 7. Review the Married Persons (Protection) Act to provide women who are awarded custody of the children of a marriage the right to maintenance for such children over the age of 16, once they are enrolled in an educational institution. 8. Develop more appropriate measures for the enforcement of The Protection against Sexual Harassment Act. 9. Establish a register for sex offenders and deny bail to repeat sex offenders unless they apply to the Supreme Court.

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