ECJ Chairman urges more funding for female political candidates

Chairman of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ), Earl Jarrett, is highlighting the need for more funding for female political candidates to level the playing field in the political arena.

Speaking during the opening ceremony for the Organization of American States (OAS) Electoral Observation Missions workshop on women’s political participation, at the S Hotel in Kingston, Jarrett noted that a lack of funding for campaigns is one of the barriers preventing more women from participating in the political process.

“There are some limiting factors that cause women not to fully participate, and it has been well studied, part of which is funding. How do you get the appropriate funding to affect the campaign in a world where women don’t have the same amount of network as men, funding that is required to enable a campaign to be run?” he queried.

The ECJ Chairman suggested that the transformation should, arguably, start at the level of political parties, with organisations in their code of conduct, rules and policies, setting quotas for women to participate.

Mr. Jarrett noted that Jamaica’s laws permit the State to fund political campaigns, but pointed out that the majority of the support over the years has been through private financing.

As such, he said the State could consider funding campaigns for underserved communities and persons, like women.

“That is something that you might want to think about, and how we can do that in a manner that is not prejudicial in any way,” he said.

The ECJ Chairman pointed out that the underrepresentation of females at the leadership level has been observed in other areas of society, noting that only about 27 per cent of all Boards have female participation.

“This tells us that there is not only a political issue, but a systemic issue that must be dealt with,” Mr. Jarrett maintained.

“The reality is that if you go to a University of the West Indies (UWI) graduation exercise, you find that over 75 per cent of the graduates are women,” he said, pointing out that females have proven that they have the brain power and “are equally able to run anything.”

As of October 2024, 16 of the 63 Members of Parliament are female.

The ECJ is the independent statutory agency of the Government of Jamaica, responsible for organising, conducting and supervising elections, by-elections and referendums.

Its objective is “to safeguard the democratic foundations of Jamaica by enabling eligible electors to elect, through free and fair elections, their representatives to govern Jamaica.”