The present Study on Saint Lucia attempts to replicate a pilot
study undertaken in 1983 in Trinidad and Tobago to clarify the
situation with respect to "Women as Recipients of Services from
Resources Allocated in the National Budget". (ECLA/CARIB/83/9)•
The main objective of the Study is to determine what proportion
of the resources provided for social services in the National Budget
is allocated to the female population and to assess the degree of
equity in the distribution of such resources.
The Study is prefaced by a description of the status of women
in Saint Lucia, including their legal status and their place in the
population structure. This is followed by an examination of the
extent of participation by women in the labour force, particularly
in the Agriculture and Export-oriented industries sectors, in the
Civil Service and their economic status as indicated by the data on
income distribution.
Education and Health Care Services and certain social welfare
programmes which are financed from the resources of the National Budget
are then examined with a view to assessing how far they meet the needs
of the female population. Education is regarded as a key factor in
the development of human resources, and the extent to which education
and training opportunities are available to females, who comprise more
than half of the population in Saint Lucia, is described. The rationale
for this approach is that, where women remain uneducated, not only are
their quantifiable contributions to the economy limited, but also their
potential contribution as mothers of the next generation. Furthermore,
education is viewed as perhaps the most powerful medium for the creation
in women of an awareness and understanding of their civic and human
rights, and the determination to secure them.
Next, the availability of health care services at primary and
secondary levels is described with the focus on those services which
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meet the special health requirements of women. Women need special
attention in the areas of pre-natal, post natal and delivery services,
including Family Planning Services. Adequate health care is a determining
factor of the extent to which women can meaningfully participate
in the overall development of a society. For instance, preventive care,
in the form of easily accessible and safe drinking water and adequate sewage
disposal and other sanitation measures, will reduce the workload of women
in the preparation of food and in the performance of other household tasks and
permit them more time to participate in activities other than housekeeping.
The adequacy and spread of social welfare services including transfer
payments in a society are important determinants of the status of women,
especially among those in the lower income brackets.
An invariable consequence of economic and social development is that
traditional socio-economic systems such as the extended family which provide
for the basic welfare of the young, disabled and otherwise dependent break
down. The need therefore arises for societies to develop alternative systems
through which such services such as day care, pre-school and special education
programmes would be provided. The State has a role to play in the development
of such systems. Welfare services enable parents to continue to
perform the nurturing domestic function simultaneously with participation
in social and economic life.
The long term objective of the Study is to provide hard data for use
in a regional programme aimed at:
(a) Involving women in the social planning process from its
earliest stages; and
(b) Providing basic information on women as beneficiaries of
Government social services needed to enable women to participate
more effectively in the planning process.
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Where feasible, an attempt is made to reflect the views of the
users of the service dealt with in the Study through the adoption
of the methodology of participatory research which focuses on the
experience of those who use the services. This is an approach
in which community development is considered as beginning with the
self development of the person.