A SITUATION ANALYSIS OF GENDER AND POLITICS IN BELIZE

Debra Lewis and Dylan Vernon

December, 2012
Published by the National Womens Commission with the support of the United Nations
http://www.undp.org/content/dam/belize/docs/Women's%20Empowerment/SitAn%20Gender
%20and%20Politics%20FINAL%20compressed.pdf
February 24, 2016
The doors of our governing bodies remain stubbornly difficult for women to open, especially at
the national level. Due to this, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP-Belize) and
the National Womens Commission introduced an initiative to update and expand the analysis of
gender and politics in Belize and develop a support strategy based on this analysis. The purpose
of this analysis is to view methods in how to fasten the course of identifying and implementing
firm actions that will increase women representation in electoral politics. The situation analysis
conducted interviews and focus groups of the experiences and views of different people with a
political background. The methodology used in the situation analysis is qualitative due to
descriptive observations. The majority of participants approved that women underrepresentation
and the lack of women at the national level is a big problem. Some interviewees mentioned that a
political system that does not acknowledge women isnt democratic at all. At the voters focus
group, one male mentioned In Belize, women are in the majority but have no political say.
Thats a frightening thing. How can you talk about national policy without 51% of the
population? Its a kind of apartheid. Moreover, several informants said that women bring
several values and priorities with them and with the lack of their representation, it affects the

lives of both men and women. Some even pointed out that, both genders approach issues
differently, men seem to think short term while women approach issues for the longer run. This
of course, can lead to a more beneficial outcome in terms of decision making. Furthermore, the
majority of informants also suggested that most male politicians do not accept the view that
something is lacking when women are not represented. In addition to this, some even agreed
that they are flaws in the political process in Belize, that lack of registration and regulation of
political parties is also a problem and also that hand-out politics is a major problem too. Most
women do not get past the stages of self-selection and selection by political parties but this does
not suggest disinterest. Because of this, discovery was made that, systematic inequities in the
political system create greater barriers for women than for men. The cost of campaigns is also a
great barrier to women than it is to men. Once again, majority of the informants agreed that
family responsibilities is an issue when considering the political office. Moreover, women are to
be more vulnerable to personal attacks than men and so, this may prevent women from political
involvement.