By ALICIA WALLACE

Another year of Independence has come and gone, and The Bahamas remains in the same place that it has been for decades when it comes to women’s rights and gender equality.

This location is the result of colonisation which extended its tentacles into the present through the laws that remain unchanged and the constitution that was passed down to many former British colonies. The stagnation of this country and its laws and policies are a result of (neo)colonialism along with the neoliberalism—ushered in by structural adjustment programs across the Caribbean and the “Global South” and the pressure to pay off foreign debt—and concentration of power in few people for whom corruption is (or becomes) more attractive than the work of representing the people, ensuring our needs are met, and guaranteeing our human rights.

Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says, “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms[…], without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.”

Everyone in The Bahamas, however, does not have all of the rights and freedoms to which we are entitled. Women are especially affected by the lingering colonial laws and the harmful gender ideology that both undergirds and is perpetuated through them. A truly independent Bahamas must contend with the colonial roots of its existence today and make the changes necessary for the advancement of women’s rights and the achievement of gender equality.

Here are four areas for legal reform that are long overdue, highly necessary, and critical to growth as an independent nation:

1. Criminalise marital rape. Women, regardless of marital status, are human beings with human rights. Human beings have the right to be free from violence. Rape is an act of violence, and this does not change regardless of the identities of the perpetrator and survivor/victim or the relationship, if any, between them. Rape is rape. In the Sexual Offences Act, the definition of rape explicitly excludes married people.

Section 3 of the Sexual Offences Act says, “Rape is the act of any person not under 14 years of age having sexual intercourse with another person who is not his spouse[…] without consent.” This exclusion is discrimination against married women in particular. In addition to the cementing of harmful gender ideology, this faulty definition of rape prevents married women from being recognised as people before the law and denies them equal protection of the law—violations of human rights.

Article 6 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says, “Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.” Article 7 adds emphasis stating, “All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.”

2. Guarantee gender-equal nationality rights. The constitution discriminates against women by limiting our ability to confer citizenship on spouses and children. This creates a different category of citizenship for women—one that is less than or below that of men. It regards Bahamian women as appendages to the men they marry rather than full human beings in their own right and citizens of The Bahamas. Inability to confer citizenship on children leads to complications and disadvantages in the lives of Bahamian women married to non-Bahamian men that Bahamian men married to non-Bahamian women do not face. A referendum must be held, following a robust educational campaign on nationality rights and, in the interim, the Bahamas Nationality Act must be amended to allow Bahamian women to automatically confer Bahamian citizenship on their children.

3. Decriminalise abortion. Women have the right to bodily autonomy and to decide if they want children, how many they want, and how they space them. No one should be forced to carry a pregnancy to term for any reason. Abortion needs to be decriminalises and made accessible as a part of the expansion of sexual and reproductive health and rights and services. There must also be comprehensive sexuality education in all schools, access to contraceptives, and policies to ensure that tubal ligation is accessible to women, regardless of age or marital status.

4. Include “sex” in the prohibited grounds of discrimination. The definition of “discriminatory” in Article 26 of the constitution has almost an exact copy of the identity markers listed in Article 15 on fundamental rights and freedoms except for its exclusion of “sex”. The framers of the constitution made the decision to deny Bahamians legal protection against sex-based discrimination. This must be remedied. As we lament the apparent increase in gender-based violence, we cannot ignore the relationship between discrimination and violence or the relationship between structure violence and interpersonal violence.

Practical areas that need attention and investment include science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education for women and girls, a political quota for 50 percent to encourage and increase women’s participation and representation in frontline politics, free BRCA gene mutation testing for Bahamian women, prioritising those with family history of breast or ovarian cancer, and paid parental leave that supports birthing parents in recovering and caring for babies and non-birthing parents in sharing the care work while supporting the recovery of birthing parents.

In addition to these issues of gender inequality in law, policy, and programming, The Bahamas has an ineffective governance structure. We see, every day, that Members of Parliament are incapable of managing constituencies, legislating, policymaking, and heading ministries. It is not only an issue of budget, but skill, time, and priorities. We need cabinet ministers with technical expertise and managerial skills to ensure that budgets are properly allocated, staff are appropriately assigned and supported, and the needs of the public are being met. We need people who understand law and policy and have the aptitude to make connections between the realities of our daily lives and the legal frameworks and tools that create environments for the betterment of society. We need people who live in our communities to manage the public goods and services that are necessary for safe, healthy lives, from well-maintained roads and street lighting to garbage collection and participatory decision-making processes.

Independence is a time to look not only at where we have come from, but to see how much further we need to go. It is not only for celebration and reflection on the past, but orienting ourselves to the future still to be built. This can be a better place. We can have effective governance with high levels of citizen participation. We can benefit from the full engagement of all residents, regardless of their identities, in an environment that enables everyone to share their knowledge and ideas, equally access opportunities and outcomes, and build healthy, happy communities.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Participate in the Feminist Standards for Governance process. Equality Bahamas is engaging the public in a series of workshops toward the development of a people’s agenda for 2026 to 2031. Workshops are designed to identify issues and work toward solutions in several thematic areas including health, education, social services, women and LGBTQI+ people, and the environment. To see dates and register for upcoming sessions, visit tiny.cc/feministstandards.

2. Join Feminist Book Club. Equality Bahamas and Poinciana Paper Press host monthly book club meetings. This month, the book selected is The Women Could Fly by Megan Giddings. It is available in hardcopy, ebook, and audiobook formats. Join the discussion at Poinciana Paper Press, 12 Parkgate Road, on Wednesday, July 16, at 6pm. Register at tiny.cc/fbc2025. Need more time? Get the book for August. We’ll be reading All Fours by Miranda July.