Gender Equality versus Equity in the Border Protection of Bahamas
As far as many nations are struggling in building a nation that has zero discrimination between humans, discussions, and debates on what is the main goal of having equal opportunities to all genders and how the objective should be achieved has risen in many meetings. The concept in which men’s and women’s rights, responsibilities, and opportunities do not rely on whether they were born male or female is referred to as gender equality (). However, achieving gender equality is very hard since, in many discussions about gender equality, people will talk about gender equity. Gender equity is the concept men and women are treated fairly with respect to their needs. The needs are comprised of education, personal development, job, and many other needs. In this essay, I will examine gender equality versus equity in the border protection profession of Bahamas.
Out of 187 countries ranked by World Bank, Bahamas is ranked position 62 hence showing that men’s and women’s responsibilities, rights, opportunities are not based on whether they were born male or female. With other professions reporting zero discrimination in opportunities, responsibilities, and rights among women and men, the border protection profession reported the lowest percentage since men dominantly dominate the profession. In the border protection, profession gender equality stipulates that men and women must have equal means to participate in the management, provision of services and oversight security and safety at the border. Various programs have been adopted by Bahamas border protection board advocate to streamline gender equality in this profession since men dominate the profession as they are viewed to as the gender which is accountable and keen to small details than female. In the border protection profession mostly the few females hired are assigned administration and recording of custom goods exported and imported into the country. However, females border protection officers attend a training session as males. They are also trained physically and emotionally to handle various tasks as their counterpart. It is misinformed to think that the only responsibility they can be assigned is administrative work as they are equal to the male border protection officers. The female border protection officers are also useful in the inspection of luggage, patrolling the border, and confiscating illicit commodities in the border. Hence gender equality in the border protection profession of Bahamas should be streamlined so that in the future, no females officers will be given the same duties as their counterparts.
Gender equity, on the other hand is the treatment of men and women fairly with respect to their needs. Gender equity recognizes that women are not in the same starting position as men. This is because of historical and social disadvantages. It is not fair to treat men and women equally since it creates a further disadvantage to women. The border protection profession supports equity with a proper understanding of how to achieve. In the process of accessing gender equality for border protection officers in the Bahamas, the equity concept is considered as a way of achieving gender equality. For instance, periods when women give birth, they are given maternity leave to take care of the baby, but this leave is not given to males since they cannot conceive.
In conclusion, the boarder protection profession advocates for gender equality by giving opportunities to the females not only for what the women can offer but also for their ability to improve the image of the border protection profession.