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Prioritising Economic Empowerment for women to achieve gender equality and poverty reduction in The Bahamas
Senator Hon. J. LaShell Adderley is the President of the Senate of The Bahamas. She is a Bahamian lawyer and politician who has served as the President of the Senate since 7 October 2021, the sixth woman to hold the role. She currently serves as Legal Counsel for CG Atlantic Group of Companies in Nassau, The Bahamas.
According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, more women than men are living in poverty overall. Globally, more than 10% of women are living in extreme poverty – which equates to living on less than US$2.15 a day. Progress has been slow, and projections forecast that as many as 342 million women (8% of the global population) will still be living in extreme poverty by 2030.
UN Women identifies some factors contributing to this inequality as follows:
Women’s poverty is fuelled by discrimination in the world of work, limited access to resources and financial assets, and deep-rooted stereotypes that limit women’s participation in education, decent employment and decision-making, while burdening them with a larger share of unpaid care and domestic work. Gender equality is a powerful catalyst for reducing poverty and driving sustainable development. By ensuring equal access to opportunities and decision-making for all, societies can create healthier and just economies.
It is clear that women are disproportionately affected by poverty globally, and this is only exacerbated by the impact of climate-related and other disasters. In my own jurisdiction of The Bahamas, the dual impact of the category 5 Hurricane Dorian, which devastated The Bahamas’ second and third largest economic centers in September 2019, and the global COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown of the entire country in 2020, resulted in significant economic hardship at the start of the decade. Like many other jurisdictions, women and girls in The Bahamas, and the wider Caribbean Region, were disproportionately affected by the economic and social consequences climate disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic. In response, many women migrated to Nassau, the capital of The Bahamas, to start over again, which further worsened poverty levels for women.
In order to address the gender poverty gap and promote equality for all, several key initiatives are outlined by UN Women including:
• Boosting productivity through access to quality jobs for women
• Promoting inclusive social and legal protections for all as key to global growth
• Creating a care society rooted in gender equality
• Ending gender-based violence
• Shifting to sustainable economies that include women
In an effort to reinvigorate gender equality and to ‘leave no woman or girl behind’, The Bahamas Government has focused on measures that promote the alleviation of poverty by engaging in a wide array of economic empowerment policies and initiatives that specifically target women. As we all know, it is an economic reality that women’s empowerment promotes financial stability and sustainable economic growth.
It was a theme that was highlighted by the Prime Minister of The Bahamas, Hon. Philip Davis in his remarks at the opening of the 13th Commonwealth Women’s Affairs Ministers Meeting (WAMM) in Nassau in August 2023 when he said:
Only when we do more to protect and empower women in our societies, will our communities and societies achieve our full potential… While we acknowledge this progress, we still want to see more political and government participation, and we know that achieving this requires active leadership and thoughtful policies. We also know that despite the great strides which have been made by women in the workplace, women can occupy more of the top spots in our private sector corporate structures.
One element to driving progress means doing more to make sure entrepreneurs have access to the capital and technical support necessary to bring their entrepreneurial dreams into fruition. It’s time to demolish the walls of the old boys’ clubs –only when opportunities are opened up more widely will we truly be making the most of the talent and ingenuity of all of humanity.
The Bahamas Government has implemented a number of key initiatives designed to reduce gender inequality and support and women’s empowerment. In 1974, The Bahamas Development Bank was established by an Act of Parliament as the Government’s primary provider for promoting industrial, agricultural and commercial development, to stimulate and enhance the economic development of The Bahamas. The Bank has integrated the UN Sustainable Development Goals into its strategy and thereby provides equitable access to finance and resources for women entrepreneurs while ensuring that they have the support they need to succeed in the business world.
The Bank recently launched the UN Joint Sustainable Development Goal Fund ‘Building Back Equal Project’. This initiative supports women-led businesses in the agriculture, creative and tourism industries and will serve as a regional best practice in gender equitable financing in advancing small island developing states. The programme will mobilise US$1.8 million over a two-year period.
UN Resident Coordinator, Dr Garry Conille highlighted at the launch that:
The project is designed and expected to catalyze millions more in additional investment to support Bahamas’ achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals; in particular, SDG 5 – gender equality; SDG 8 – decent work and economic growth; and SDG 9 – reduced inequalities.
The Bahamas Development Bank’s Chairperson, Senator Quinton Lightbourne said:
We recognise that men and women face differences in accessing socio-economic resources including financing. Men and women have different needs that shape how capacity building and programmes must be delivered to ensure that every person has equitable access to opportunity.
Another initiative from The Bahamas Development Bank offers preferential financing to women at incredibly low-interest rates, ranging between 0% to 2%. By offering low interest rates to women entrepreneurs, the Bank aims to address the unique barriers women face in accessing capital and resources.
Other policy initiatives undertaken by the Ministry of Economic Affairs in The Bahamas is the establishment of the Access Accelerator at the Small Business Development Centre (SBDC) that plays a vital role in narrowing the gender poverty gap by providing critical support and resources to entrepreneurs and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) with a particular focus on women. Under the SBDC, women-owned businesses received over US$28 million in grants, loans and equity funding.
The ‘Microloan Program’ provides loans of up to US$15,000 for women who have graduated from the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE), a US training programme in partnership with the United States Embassy in The Bahamas.
In 2023, the Women Entrepreneurs Initiative was launched, which is a self-paced training programme that provides grant funding of up to US$10,000. The Initiative supported 87 women in 2023 with 525 training hours and approved funding of approximately US$0.7million.
The Small Business Development Centre’s flagship programme, the Guarantee Loan Programme (GLP), supported 25 women in The Bahamas with approved funding of over US$1.8 million. The GLP has an approval rating of 61% which is on average 30% above the approval rate of regional counterparts.
The Government of The Bahamas recognised that affordable and reliable childcare was also a barrier to economic empowerment and workforce participation by women, especially those from low income and single parent homes. We know that women carry out more unpaid care and domestic work, including childcare, than men resulting in less time for women and girls to undertake opportunities to access education and paid employment. The Ministry of Education in The Bahamas implemented a ‘Universal Pre-Primary Program’ and free early childhood pre-school education for 3 and 4-year-olds in order to provide more opportunities for women to access opportunities for work and training. Public schools are supported by free breakfast and lunch programmes which buttress school attendance and heighten educational opportunities.
The impact of gender-based violence has also had a huge impact on women in The Bahamas and tackling violence against women and girls has been a key priority. The recently passed Protection Against Violence Act 2023 in The Bahamas establishes and protects the rights of victims, allows for the allocation of more resources, and focuses on sensitisation and training within the police force and other organisations that work directly with survivors.
Additional measures for economic empowerment included food security programmes, a recent reduction in Value Added Tax and an increase in minimum wage – all targeted at poverty reduction amongst communities and families.
There are positive signs in The Bahamas as a result of these initiatives for women’s economic empowerment and the target of a reduction in poverty for all women remains our key goal.
