President David Granger yesterday announced that the government may be open to offering tax rebates to companies that provide day care services to their workers.
“Women can’t work… because they have to take care of children. Our government is considering offering tax rebates to companies which establish day care centres for women. We want women happy when they are at work… Happy women equal happy families,” Granger said, in an address at the National Conference on Gender and Development, which was convened by the Ministry of Social Protection at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre yesterday.
Granger told the gathering that the government aims to design a national policy aimed at achieving five objectives. These are: equality of women in politics and society; eradication of extreme poverty; enhancement of employment opportunities; elimination of violence; and enhancing access to education, especially science and technology.
After highlighting the impact of poverty on equality, the president declared that the government will do more to eradicate extreme poverty. “A major obstacle to equality is the prevalence and persistence of poverty,” he said
Declaring it a modern day miracle that many women are able to take care of their families on their meagre salary, Granger said that women must be provided with better opportunities if they are to escape the scourge of poverty.
According to the president, his government is willing to support female entrepreneurship, to establish microcredit facilities and afford access to small business loans.
In addition, the government is prepared to consider offering concessionary financing for micro-credit organisations and expanding existing micro-credit schemes.
Noting that women are often the main or sole breadwinners in Guyanese families, Granger lamented the fact many can’t find satisfactory work.
He said many Guyanese women are travelling to the eastern Caribbean and bordering states, such as Suriname, to find work since the local economy is not providing enough jobs for them.
Granger explained that while these women contribute to the economy through remittances, this contribution comes at great social cost as often they leave their children behind. He noted that children of poor mothers often do poorly at school and they often drop out. According to Granger, Guyana has an approximate dropout rate of 500 a month.
To combat this situation, the government intends in the coming years to establish employment secretariats in all regions to match persons with employment opportunities in their communities.
“Women will be able to find work closest to their homes and will not have to work far away from their homes,” he added.
