Dominica’s constitution supports women – officials

The Bureau of Gender Affairs has reported that Dominica’s constitution is generally giving fair treatment to women.

Nadette Langford, research and program development officer at the Bureau of Gender Affairs, says the findings arose from a review of the constitution.

“Our constitution is non-discriminatory on the basis of sex,” she reported.

The treatment of women in the area of education also came under review, according to Langford.

“Our laws provide that all children, from five to 16, it’s mandatory that they be enrolled in school, and based on the statistics from the Education Planning Unit, what we found was that there is almost a balance of boys and girls enrollment…,” she said.

Langford said the report shows Dominican women are experiencing “equal rights and equal opportunity in Dominica.”

Minister for Gender Affairs Gloria Shillingford, in her statement on the occasion of International Women’s Day today, said Dominican women have been making their mark in the society.

“Presently, at least seven out of 12 women, 58 percent, hold the position of permanent secretary in various ministries. At  the level of attorney general, speaker of the house of assembly, chief magistrate and solicitor general, women also occupy these positions and there are currently two elected women parliamentarians, who also hold ministerial positions all of  which, were predominantly male-occupied fields for many years,” Shillingford disclosed.

The theme for international women’s day is “Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities, Progress for All”.