Reducing violence against women and children is vital to socio-economic development, and more community-based approaches to encourage its reduction are the most desirable

According to UN Women, 28% of women in Jamaica have suffered intimate partner violence during their lifetime, and 23% have suffered sexual violence from a non-partner. These levels of violence, especially intra-household violence, have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the increased levels of stress experienced by many people.

On 25 November, the United Nations started its 16 Days of Action against Gender-Based Violence with a range of worldwide activities, including lighting many buildings and monuments orange, the colour of action. This initiative follows this year's theme: "Paint the World Orange: Finance, Respond, Prevent, Collect Data!" urging governments to take concrete action to prevent violence against women and children, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Jamaican Economy Panel (JEP) answered various questions on violence against women and children and what policies the society can pursue to reduce such violence.

Previous research has shown that, in Jamaica, violent discipline has a substantial presence in Jamaican society, with UNICEF reporting that up to 85% of children encounter such violence. At the same time, international research has shown that exposure to violent discipline and violent discipline help to promote a culture of violence. The overwhelming majority of JEP panellists concurred that domestic violence and violent discipline were associated with the increased presence of gender-based and other types of violence.

The panellists supported several courses of action to reduce the violence children encounter, including harsher punishment for perpetrators of violence and stronger laws. However, there was also strong support for the pursuit of better ways for children and teenagers to report violence and for counselling and support to parents to avoid violence altogether.

Dr. Nadine McCloud, Head of the Economics Department at UWI Mona and co-founder of the JEP, explains that " to increase the peacefulness of Jamaican society, it is important to pursue community-based initiatives focused on avoiding violence. This proposition does not imply that perpetrators should enjoy impunity, but the elimination of violence through preemptive action will lead to a faster reduction of the negative consequences thereof".

The JEP panellists answered questions about violence against women specifically. There is some evidence that unequal income and labour distributions can exacerbate intra-household violence. In Jamaica, for example, there is a 14 percentage point gap between female and male labour participation rates and a substantial gap in unemployment rates exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The panellists achieved an almost even split on whether this economic inequality was a driver behind the trends seen in gender-based violence. Tonni-Ann Brodber, Representative of the UN Women Multi-Country Office, comments that “the research shows that intimate partner violence risks in Jamaica include increased quarreling between couples. The large and increasing inequality in labour participation could lead to increased stress and quarrels among couples in the home. In some cases these arguments provide a gateway to IPV for men who are inclined to resolve conflict with violence.”.

When asked about solutions to the challenge of violence against women, several approaches received majority support from the panellists—the two proposals with the most outstanding support focus on addressing violence through community-based and positive interventions. In particular, the respondents focused on the importance of education as a structural way to address violence in the long run. Responding to the survey results, Dr. Garry Conille, United Nations Resident Coordinator, shared that he "could not agree more about the importance of community-based solutions. As a society, I believe we are overly focused on correcting behaviour after the fact when it can be much more effective to pursue mechanisms that reduce the occurrence of a behaviour. In Jamaica, which suffers a culture-of-violence problem, education is a key driver in reducing such unwanted behaviours".

The Jamaican Economy Panel is part of a partnership between the United Nations Resident Coordinator's Office (UNRCO) and the Department of Economics at The University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona. The JEP brings together a select group of economic and public sector experts to address monthly socio-economic questions. These questions help to highlight relevant economic issues and the collective expertise of the panellists.

The full results of this month's discussion are available HERE 

                                                                                                                           ###

For further information, please contact:

• United Nations: Dr. Olaf J. de Groot, Economist. Email: olaf.degroot@un.org.
• Department of Economics, The University of the West Indies at Mona: Dr. Nadine McCloud, Head, Email: nadine.mccloud02@uwimona.edu.jm