An investment in care facilities is an investment in the productive capacity of women.
Minister of Industry, Innovation, Science and Technology (MIST), Marsha Caddle, emphasised this point, as she addressed the British Women’s Club of Barbados’ International Women’s Day luncheon last Friday, at Mahogany Ridge, St. Thomas.
She disclosed that MIST would be investing in new child and elder care facilities at an upgraded Pelican Centre in Bridgetown to help accomplish this.
Ms. Caddle shared that the new facility would be designed to accommodate 150 children and 50 elderly persons and will feature a clinic and pharmacy.
She explained that providing care facilities for children and the elderly would allow women to engage in other activities outside of the home.
“This is not about any notion of women’s work. It is an acknowledgement that the responsibility of raising a productive society and investing in families and households is the work and responsibility of all of us, and such investments increase the wellbeing of every single one of us,” she stated.
However, she pointed out that this was not the only way there could be investment in women’s productive capacity.
The MIST Minister added that there were other issues which needed to be addressed when it came to accelerating progress for women, such as the ownership of land and other assets, and the extent to which that ownership allowed them to access credit for their businesses.
As a result, she said Government had sought to establish a collateral registry so that women, men, and young people, who do not have assets “could bring to bear what they do and register it as collateral”.
She noted these assets could include equipment or anything of value, so that in cases where persons did not have major acceptable assets, they could still have access to credit.
Furthermore, Ms. Caddle stated Government was embarking on measuring the informal economy, where some women are not necessarily working in market jobs but are working otherwise. In some cases, these women did not have access to benefits like social security, which made them vulnerable, she noted.
The MIST Minister said she was particularly passionate about expanding women’s choices in the areas of technology and finance, adding that the Ministry would be rolling out ‘tech’ boot camps for girls in the future.
“I am encouraged and overjoyed to have responsibility for a sector in which there is so much opportunity for inclusion, for investment in women and girls and accelerating progress. We need to craft education and play that is more around problem-solving; craft education that is around discovery, around understanding, what are the things we need to understand and then setting about the job of unpacking those things and seeing how we, as a Barbadian society, develop the capacity to put those things back together,” she underscored.
Ms. Caddle congratulated the British Women’s Club of Barbados on its work over the last 50 years, pointing out that the work its members do in their professional and personal lives has not only expanded choices for women but also promoted inclusion.
However, she challenged service clubs to bring new generations of women into the fold. “One of the things we can stand to strengthen is intergenerational exchange among all our people. I believe there are stories and experiences that we can all benefit from hearing,” she said.