Women in Montserrat: Power, Personal Safety, and Real Development

Shirley Osborne

BIODATA

Shirley Osborne, MBA, is the Founder and Executive Director of The Girls’ Education Project, a teaching, mentoring, and advocacy organization in Phoenix, Arizona. Her work has included participation in UN General Assembly Special Sessions on Women, and service with the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus, the Anti-Defamation League, MTV – Open Your Mind, The Purple Ribbon Council, The Child Assault Prevention Project, and Fresh Start Women’s Foundation.

ABSTRACT

Among the United Nations’ eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), are three directed specifically at women. MDG number three: Promote gender equality and empower women, through the elimination of gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2005, and at all levels by 2015. This paper argues, however, that although women in Montserrat reached this particular milestone many moons ago, gender equality is not a reality in Montserrat. True equality and real power elude Montserrat’s women in their private and public lives, despite any evidence to the contrary, presenting an almost insurmountable impediment to genuine development for the island.

A woman’s ability to contribute to the development of her society is closely related to how effectively society invests in and realizes the potential of women not only as mothers, write Gill, Pande, and Malhotra, but as critical contributors to sustaining families and transforming nations. When investments in women lag, the opportunity cost for nations in terms of lost possibilities for broader social and economic development are enormous.

Montserrat’s women have been significant but systematically under-utilized contributors in all sectors of the island’s society. They are consistently underrated and unappreciated. In legislation, politics, religion, and commerce, as in other areas, quantitative evidence and anecdotal evidence indicate, women have not been rewarded with a sufficiently active national investment in their safety, security, and empowerment, though this would support that development both directly and indirectly. This paper will argue that, until this is remedied, real development will continue to elude the people of Montserrat, and will also make some recommendations.

© Shirley Osborne, 2008. Page last revised November 3, 2008.

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