Looking at the MDGs within the context of Violence in Jamaica. Particular attention is given to Goals 1 and 3.

1. Making Sense of Violence and
the Millennium Development
Goals (with an emphasis on Goals 1 and 3)
Ms. Taitu Heron
For UNDP/FES Community Dialogue
Making the Connections: Millennium Development
Goals 1 and 3
Port Antonio, Portland
November 4, 2009

2. What are the Millennium Development Goals?
• UNDP tells us that the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) are eight (8) goals to be achieved by
2015 that respond to the world's main development
challenges. The MDGs are drawn from the actions
and targets contained in the Millennium Declaration
that was adopted by 189 nations-and signed by 147
heads of state and governments during the UN
Millennium Summit in September 2000.
• The eight MDGs break down into 21 quantifiable
targets that are measured by 60 indicators.

3. The MDGs
• Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
• Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower
women
• Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
• Goal 5: Improve maternal health
• Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other
diseases
• Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
• Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for
development

4. What then is poverty?
What does it mean to be poor?

5. Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
What do we want to eradicate? What then is poverty? Or
what does it mean to be poor?
– No voice in policies or in the delivery of services
– Limited access to education, resulting in reduced literacy
rates
– Limited access to health services
– Limited access to land and water, or insecure rights of access
to these resources
– Poor access to credit facilities, extension services and
agricultural services
– Inadequate housing and road networks
– Limited or difficult access to markets (business & job)
– and low household incomes, related to generally high levels of
unemployment or under-employment.

6. What do
we mean
by gender
equality?

7. What is gender equality?
• Equality - a right not a luxury
• Gender equality is simple: women and men must
have the same rights and access to
opportunities and discrimination based on
gender has to stop.
• Wherever the burden of inequality exists, power,
opportunities, time and resources must be
balanced;
• Gender equality is also essential if we are to
meet any of the Millennium Development Goals.

8. Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and
Empower women
What do we mean by gender equality and why do we
need to empower women?
• Gender equality means that things between men and
women, economically, socially and politically, at all levels
in society – in the household, in the community, in the
schools, in the church, etc., are equal in terms of access
to resources, opportunities and how much power one
has.
• Based on how the society is run we know that women
are more disadvantaged than men in many ways, and in
other ways, men are more disadvantaged than women.
Thus because women are more disadvantaged we say
that we need more help.

9. Empowering
women
To be empowered means having increased
opportunity for women to control their lives:
• The power to make decisions
• The power to have your voice heard
• The power to put things on the agenda
• The power to negotiate something
• The power within to challenge past customs.

10. Making sense of violence in Jamaica and
the MDGs 1 and 3
• There is no clear mention of gender in the
MDG relating to poverty reduction;
• There is no explicit mention of poverty in the
goal relating to gender equality and
women’s empowerment.
• There is no goal that deals explicitly with
violence
........BUT

11. Is there
an end to
poverty?
What does
poverty
have to do
with
violence?
Does
gender
have
anything
to do
with
poverty?

12. Trends in Gender and Poverty
• More poor female- headed households in the rural
areas in the other towns and the KMA;
• In the absence of consistent male support/
presence, female headed households face triple
burdens: childbearing/rearing, employment and
managing households, they lack the time and
resources needed for them to escape poverty and
improve their employability;
• Poor males tend to gravitate towards seeking
employment, ‘juggling and hustling’, criminal
involvement;
• Poor females tend to gravitate towards seeking
employment, male dependency, remittances,
commercial sex

13. • Of those involved in crime and violence, 98% are
males.
• More young men involved in crime (52%, between 12 –
25 years)
• The role of women in “protecting” and “supporting” the
male criminals.
• More men are committing sexual violence.
• More men are raping women, most of these females
are between 16-20; a third of the rapists are between
21-44.
• Noticeable trend of young women becoming involved
in gun crimes, gang memberships, etc.
(ESSJ 2006)
13
Trends in Gender and Violence

14. Gender and Violence continued
• Increasing trend of women physically
abusing their children;
• More reported cases of incest in rural
areas;
• Rape as reprisal and sexual servitude of
young girls to Dons in organized crime;
• GBV perpetrated by women is not readily
available; the power of gender
stereotypes does not facilitate a social
space for male victims of GBV;
• A clear relationship does not exist between
law reform, public education and court
cases with violence against women and
girls and buggery of young males.
• Court System is not user-friendly

15. Crimes 2008 (ESSJ 2008)
• A total of 10 039 major crimes were reported, 27.5 per
cent more than 2007. The crime rate was 373 per 100 000
population.
• Of the total number of major crimes reported in 2008, (2
817) 28.1 per cent were cleared up by the end of the year.
• There were 2 232 cases of sexual violence, 57% of the
victims were under 19 years old. The majority of the
victims were female, while 29 males were also violated.
• 73 per cent of the major crimes committed were in the
parishes of St. Andrew, St. Catherine, St. James, Kingston
and Clarendon.
ESSJ 2008

16. Educational Level of New Admissions to Prisons
(ESSJ 2008)
Illiterate
9.7%
Poor
54.2%
Fair
23.1%
Good
4.2%
Not recorded
8.7%

17. Data on Crime and Violence Continued
•The number of females murdered increased
by 13.0 per cent to 165 from 146 in 2007.
•There was also an increase in the number of
children (0–17 years old) murdered to 94 from
70 and 65 in 2007 and 2006 respectively.
•Of the total number of persons murdered, 18.4
per cent was labourers while 16.5 per cent
was unemployed.
•The gun was used to commit 77.4 per cent of
all murders while knives/machetes were used
in 16.6 per cent

18. Making the Links
•Violence occurs in all social and economic
classes, but men and women living in poverty are
more likely to experience violence. It is clear that
poverty and its associated stressors are important
contributors ;
•Why this is so? Men in difficult economic
circumstances (e.g. unemployment, little job
autonomy, low socioeconomic status or blocked
advancement due to lack of education) may resort
to violence towards their family members out of
frustration, and a sense of hopelessness.
•At the same time, poor women who experience
violence from their may have fewer resources to
escape violence in the home or find help
elsewhere.

19. Making the Links
•Women are in difficult economic
circumstances, whether with a partner or
not, may take out their stress by physically
abusing their children;
•Men from poor communities in urban
settings or fishing communities may get
involved in illegal work such as working with
a don to move guns, commit robberies;
move drugs; etc. The nature of this new
occupation creates violence, such as
murder, especially once they get a gun.

20. STOP!
Group Activity
(2 groups of 3 or 4 each, 1 male in each group)

21. Violence and the MDGs
• All forms of violence impact nearly every MDG.
• It causes poverty from this slowdown and closure of
businesses, immobility, injury or death of a household
head and the impact on remaining family members.
• Gender-based violence is profoundly disempowering
for women’s well-being and their levels of economic
productivity.
• Violence affects education as schools have to close
down or attendance is negatively affected.
• Trauma affects educational performance, mental and
physical health and productivity. Violence eats into
resources needed to reduce child and maternal
mortality and other areas in health care.

22. The violence makes us isolated and more difficult to
break the cycle of poverty and gender inequality

23. Thanks for listening!!
Data Sources & References: ESSJ 2006, 2007, 2008; Status of Women and
Men in Jamaica, Desk Review, 2005, Gender Advisory Committee; UN AMR
Report, PIOJ and MFAFT, July 2009.