UNICEF: Spotlight on Jamaica

[differenceblog]

The "Situation Analysis on Gender Disparities in Jamaica"(UNICEF 2007) notes that girl children under five are more likely to be brought to private physicians, whereas boy children are more likely to be brought to government hospitals. The UNICEF report attributes a difference of 3-4% in child mortality by gender to this difference in care.

Comments

Another Gleaner article about the UNICEF report:

[differenceblog]

Bertrand Bainvel, UNICEF's representative to Jamaica, says that boys really are getting less health care, due to a social construct of masculinity that pervades Jamaica's culture: "We feel that boys are tough enough to go through difficult situations when they are young ... When you give them too much care and attention, it might weaken them" Gleaner 2/24/08

[feministyogini]

I was most amazed by the stat about teen pregnancy. Sadly, I don't have contact with my Jamaican friends anymore but I'm curious to know how this is treated in Jamaica. Ex. is it normalized that young women have babies or is it a "teen pregnancy epidemic" moral panic like it is in Canada and the US? So curious...

[differenceblog]

Well, a quick Google of Glenda Simms when I didn't recognize the name brought up a recent (Jamaica Observer, 2/22/08) panel on Abortion hosted by Jamaica's labor party. Apparently the abortion issue is a major political point in Jamaica as well as in the U.S.

I think it's probably somewhere in between the two extremes you mention: there appears to be some moral hand-wringing by politicians over it (Observer story), but employers seem to expect it (normalized?) from women employees -- which leads to reduced job opportunities for women. (according to UNICEF)