Former student of the Girls’ High School and current Attorney at Law Narissa Morris believes that women have a long way to go in the workplace, before they would be on par with their male counterparts.{{more}}

Morris, speaking on the topic “Careers for the 21st Century”, at the eleventh lecture in the school’s centenary lecture series two weeks ago, said that despite making some strides, a number of factors are still hindering women.

“We no longer have to dress like men; that’s gone, and we don’t have to sacrifice family for career for the most part; and more and more we are college graduates more than men.”

“One of the daunting factors is that a gender pay gap persists everywhere – it didn’t matter whether you were from a Third World country or a First World country, if you are a woman, chances are

you are earning less than a man.”

“A disturbing figure is that as women get older, the pay gap increases… and my feeling is with more and more labour force participation by women, that number is going to decline.”

Morris said that other hindrances to the progress of women in the workplace include the fact that a number of countries still do not provide maternity leave for women, which places a burden of child rearing on them.

The New York based attorney also acknowledged that women also carry the double burden of working within and outside of the home.

In Asian countries, women spend about 45 minutes a day in cleaning, as opposed to men who spend six minutes.”

In more developed countries, women spend half the time more.”

“Women are also the ones rearing children and very often, with couples with children, you find the man works and the woman works part-time or not at all.”

According to Morris, one of the major ways that women can achieve parity with men is through employment, which she revealed has been taking place over the years, with significant increases in Northern Africa, Latin American and the Caribbean.

She said that despite grim statistics, women are well positioned to proceed into the 21st century.

She revealed that in the United States, for every two males graduating college

and earning a higher degree, there were three females doing the same, and because of the nature of the 21st century jobs, women are becoming more employable than men.

“In the Caribbean, the same thing is true; 60% of students at the University of the West Indies are women.”

“Women have an easier time finding a job after they are unemployed and men are the ones who are unemployed.

“Women are the ones who really control the purse string and the spending decisions are more influenced by women.”

“That’s why they have dubbed the recession a ‘He- session’ and the economy a ‘She- conomy’”. (JJ)