A collection of essays by a number of outstanding women of the Caribbean on the situation of women in the region, in the period since the Beijing Conference of 1995. Examining a range of issues including education, poverty, decision-making, and violence, the authors expose continuing burdens and disadvantages faced by women.
Investments in education across countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have transformed the lives of millions of girls and the prospects of their families and societies. Unleashing the full economic potential of women is nevertheless still a curtailed issue in the region: just about half of women are unable to participate in paid work. The majority of the population out of the labor market is women between the ages of 24 and 45. This is the largest share of the available pool of unused human capital countries have, and where mothers of young children are concentrated. This book argues that more and better childcare constitutes a fundamental policy option to improve female outcomes in the labor market, but countries need to pay particular attention to the design and features of such services. First-rate educational programs will be useless if children are not enrolled or do not attend formal education centers. A large program expansion will be wasted if parents cannot enroll their children because they are unable to reach the center, don’t trust its quality, if the program is too expensive, or if work and care schedules are not compatible. Through an integrated framework applied to each country and an overview of the existing evidence, this book addresses the why and what questions about policy relevant instruments to achieve female labor participation. Parts I and II of the book lay out the motivation for Latin-American and Caribbean countries to act depicting their current situation both in terms of women’s labor participation and the use and provision of childcare services. Moreover, this book tackles the how question contributing to the incipient evidence about factors affecting the take-up of programs and demand for childcare services and other informal care arrangements. Part III of the book explores how to improve services and implement more and better formal, center-based care arrangements for young children. It looks at international benchmarks, discusses different experiences and proposes specific actions to solve potential inequalities in access to childcare.
This book brings together leading scholars of Caribbean education from around the world. Schooling continues to hold a special place both as a means to achieve social mobility and as a mechanism for supporting the economy of Caribbean nations. In this book, the Caribbean includes the Greater and Lesser Antilles. The Greater Antilles is made up of the five larger islands (and six countries) of the northern Caribbean, including the Cayman Islands, Cuba, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Puerto Rico, and Jamaica. The Lesser Antilles includes the Windward and Leeward Islands which are inclusive of Barbados, St. Vincent, Trinidad and Tobago along with several other islands. Each chapter provides a unique perspective on the various social and cultural issues that define Caribbean education and schooling. The Handbook on Caribbean Education fills a void in the literature and documents the important research being done throughout the Caribbean. Creating a space where Caribbean voices are a part of “international” discussions about 21st century global matters and concerns is an important contribution of this work.
Michael Gurian's blockbuster bestseller The Wonder of Boys is the bible for mothers, fathers, and educators on how to understand and raise boys. It has sold over 400,000 copies, been translated into 17 languages, and sells over 25,000 every year, which is more than any other book on boys in history. To follow up on this first book, which launched the boy's movement, he has now written this revolutionary new book which confronts what he and a lot of other parents and teachers in this country truly believe to be a "boy's crisis". Here are the facts: Boys today are simply not learning as well as girls Boys receive 70% of the Ds and Fs given all students Boys cause 90% of classroom discipline problems 80% of all high school dropouts are boys Millions of American boys are on Ritalin and other mind-bending control drugs Only 40% of college students are boys And three out of four learning disabled students are boys So what can we do? Gurian has the answer in this enormously fascinating and practical book which shows parents and teachers how to help boys overcome their current classroom obstacles by helping to create the proper learning environment, understand how to help boys work with their unique natural gifts, nurture and expand every bit of their potential, and enabling them to succeed in life the way they ought to. Gurian presents a whole new way of solving the problem based on the success of his program in schools across the country, the latest research and application of neuro-biological research on how boys' brains actually work and how they can learn very well if they're properly taught. Anyone who cares about the future of our boys must read this book.
The growing regional and international concerns about the educational performance of males reflect a broader social anxiety about the plight of men in general and black men in particular. This concern has culminated in the marginalized male thesis, which has gained considerable academic attention and popular support in the media. In addressing the issue of male underachievement, the book challenges the popularly held assumption that boys fail because girls achieve. Rather than blaming Caribbean females for male underachievement, the book locates male educational performance in the historical context of Caribbean gender relationships, and structural constraints on the development of Caribbean gender identities. UNICEF and the Institute of Social and Economic Research funded the research on gender and Caribbean high school achievement upon which this book is based. Odette Parry and her colleagues conducted extensive in-depth interviews and participant observation research at schools in Jamaica, Barbados, and St Vincent and the Grenadines. After providing the research background and acknowledging the effect of the interviewers' cultural differences, Parry discusses key findings in t
Have efforts to advance women’s and men’s commitments to democratic governance, women’s rights and gender equality been successful in the Caribbean? Do they reflect local as well as international concerns and visions of gender equality? This edited collection answers these questions by focusing on women’s political leadership, electoral quota systems, national gender policies and transformational leadership as four feminist strategies that aim to engender democracy and citizenship. It offers a rich historical, comparative and ethnographic perspective on the lived experience of these strategies through case studies of Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Dominica, Jamaica and St. Lucia. Drawing on national policy debates, election campaigns, state officials’ solidarities, men’s gender consciousness and women leaders’ life histories across these five Caribbean countries, the collection assesses the successes of transnational feminist efforts, the resilience of masculinist resistances, the limits of gender mainstreaming and the possibilities for gender justice in and beyond the Caribbean today.
This report aims to 'crack the code' by deciphering the factors that hinder and facilitate girls' and women's participation, achievement and continuation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and, in particular, what the education sector can do to promote girls' and women's interest in and engagement with STEM education and ultimately STEM careers.
"Higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean has expanded dramatically in the past 15 years, as the average gross enrollment rate has more than doubled, and many new institutions and programs have been opened. Although higher education access has become more equitable, and higher education supply has become more varied, many of the 'new' students in the system are, on average, less academically ready than are their more advantaged counterparts. Furthermore, only half of higher education students, on average, complete their degree, and labor market returns to higher education vary greatly across institutions and programs. Thus, higher education is at a crossroads today. Given the region's urgency to raise productivity in a low-growth, fiscally constrained environment, going past this crossroads requires the formation of skilled human capital fast and efficiently. 'At a Crossroads: Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean' contributes to the discussion by studying quality, variety, and equity of higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean. The book presents comprehensive evidence on the recent higher education expansion and evolution of higher education labor market returns. Using novel data and state-of-the-art methods, it studies demand and supply drivers of the recent expansion. It investigates the behavior of institutions and students and explores the unintended consequences of large-scale higher education policies. Framing the analysis are the singular characteristics of the higher education market and the market segmentation induced by the variety of students and institutions in the system. At this crossroads, a role emerges for incentives, information, accountability, and choice."