UN Women: Legislative Drafter: Bridgetown, Barbados, International Consultant

Background:

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

Background/Context

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. 

UN Women has entered into an Agreement with Global Affairs Canada (GAC) to implement a project on women’s economic empowerment in the Eastern Caribbean. The project, “Build Back Equal” (BBE), which is led by UN Women and jointly implemented with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), is being implemented, and will contribute to women’s economic resilience in the Eastern Caribbean by taking a comprehensive approach to addressing the barriers women face to economic empowerment and providing increased sustainable opportunities for women’s economic growth. Government and the private sector in four Eastern Caribbean countries will benefit from strengthened capacity and access to financing to sustainably alleviate women’s unpaid care work burden through subsidized quality childcare. Globally, women work 2.8 hours more than men on unpaid care and domestic work.[1] This implies that women, and particularly the poorest and most disadvantaged, have the double burden of both paid and unpaid work, or in other words they are often more time poor than men. Women bear the multiple burdens of productive and reproductive responsibilities  that severely limits their economic opportunities and remains a barrier to their engagement in paid work. Data on unpaid care work and specifically  to measure SDG Indicator 5.4.1 (Proportion of time spent on unpaid domestic and care work, by sex, age and location) is sparse in CARICOM.  However, the UN Women MCO-Caribbean is leading efforts to close this data gap in the region.[2]  Unpaid care and domestic work is usually invisible in policies and budgets because they are not part of the conventional definition and measurement of the economy (Sharp, 2003).

With support from the BBE project, women’s livelihoods will be made more resilient as most marginalized women, including VAW survivors and elderly women will have their livelihoods strengthened through increased access to comprehensive social protection packages (that will also have a focus on reducing unpaid care work), and reliable referral pathways which are shock responsive and include sexual and reproductive health services. Capacities will be strengthened across health care systems to ensure the availability of quality sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services to women and youth.

The project’s overall theory of change is that if women, especially the most marginalized, have increased access to subsidised childcare, reliable sexual and reproductive health services, to climate and shock-responsive social protection which includes gender-based violence services and opportunities for and access to innovative financing, digitization and climate-smart and environmentally-friendly practices to grow their businesses; then they will experience economic resilience and their countries will benefit from their increased productivity to Build Forward Equal.

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work

Under the overall supervision of the UN Women MCO - Caribbean Representative, the Legislative Drafter will spearhead multi-country research on gender gaps in relevant legal frameworks in the following countries: Dominica, Grenada and St. Lucia; and informed by this research, draft in close coordination with the consultant Gender and Labour Laws Expert (to be recruited separately) legislative provisions to be integrated into existing legislation to address unpaid care and domestic work.

A major goal of this consultancy is to address lacunas in policy and legal frameworks that would support the implementation the 5Rs strategy to recognize, reduce, redistribute, represent, reward - of paid and unpaid care and domestic work. The study should also build on and be informed by Gender Gap Analyses of Social Protection Frameworks undertaken in the target countries. These Gender Gap Analyses have identified whether or not gender-specific risks and vulnerabilities are taken into account in the design and operation of social protection programmes and policies in these countries. Country and context specific policy and legislative gaps have been identified in all the countries. However, the following gaps have been identified in all countries across the life-course:

• No universal child benefits, child grants, or child tax credits.
• Twelve to thirteen weeks maternity leave, and not a minimum of fourteen weeks as per ILO Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183) which has not been ratified by all countries.
• Nursing Breaks are not required by law and there are no breastfeeding policies.
• No mandatory paternity leave.
• Gender pay gap persists even in countries where there is legislation on equal pay. This is due to the fact that women tend to be overrepresented in specific sectors of the labour market (services sector for example) signalling that the problem is not only about comparison with men’s pay; but an overall undervaluing of the work women do. This indicates a need for pay equity legislation across the countries that would need to address not only “equal pay for equal work” but “equal pay for equal work of equal value”.
• Domestic workers not entitled to redundancy pay. There is a need for greater compliance to ensure social security contributions by employers of domestic workers. 
• Need for gender-responsiveness in estimation of pensions particularly as older women might earn lower income due to lower cumulative earnings while employed prior to retirement. 

Taking the above into consideration, the Legislative Drafter will:

• In close coordination with a Gender and Labour Law Expert to recruiter separately, draft legislative provisions to be integrated into existing legislation per country on the following:
  • Maternity Leave, to ensure compliance with C183 - Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183)
  • Parental Leave
  • Child Benefit for Low Income Working Parents and Legal Guardians 
  • Pay Equity
  • Paid Nursing Break and Nursing Facilities Law
  • Decent Work for Domestic Workers

Deliverables

Legislative Drafter is expected to deliver the following results:

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
• Accountability;
• Creative Problem Solving;
• Effective Communication;
• Inclusive Collaboration;
• Stakeholder Engagement;
• Leading by Example.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework: 

Functional Competencies:

• Strong legal analysis and social research and analytical skills. 
• Excellent written and oral communications skills including the conveying complex concepts and recommendations, in a clear and persuasive style tailored to match different audiences. 
• Ability to interact independently as part of a team. 
• Ability to multi-task and operate effectively in stressful situations. 

Education and Certification:

• A LLB/Bachelor of Laws Degree is required.
• A LLM or PhD in Law and Human Rights is preferred but not required.

Experience:

• At least five legislative drafting experience in the English-Speaking Caribbean is required. 
• At least five years’ experience working on gender equality and/or human rights is desirable but not required. 

Languages:

• Fluency in written and oral English is required. 

It is essential that when submitting your application through the online form, you include all your information.Incomplete applications or those missing the required information will not be considered.

Statements :

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)

Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.