Barbara Evelyn Bailey (born 14 March 1942) is an educator, writer and

gender studies Gender studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to analysing gender identity and gendered representation. Gender studies originated in the field of women's studies, concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. The field ...

scholar from Kingston, Jamaica. In addition to her education work, she has represented

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

at numerous conferences and assemblies regarding women's rights. In 2008 she was elected by the state parties as a member of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.

Career

Bailey attended the University of the West Indies (UWI), where she received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

in microbiology in 1974, a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

in 1983, and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in education in 1987. She worked as a lecturer at UWI from 1980 to 1996. From 1995 to 2010, she served as regional coordinator of the university's Institute for Gender and Development Studies. In 2003, Bailey was named Professor of Gender & Education at UWI. Bailey became inadvertently involved in the international

women's movement The feminist movement (also known as the women's movement, or feminism) refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for radical and liberal reforms on women's issues created by the inequality between men and women. Such is ...

in the 1980s when she was invited to head the National Executive of Methodist Women in Jamaica. Through her work there and as founding member and later president of the Women in the Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas, she became interested in ways to empower women through social outreach programs. In 1985, Bailey was part of the Jamaican delegation to the

Third World Conference on Women The World Conference on Women, 1985 or the Third World Conference on Women took place between 15 and 26 July 1985 in Nairobi, Kenya, as the end-of-decade assessment of progress and failure in implementing the goals established by the World Plan of ...

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper h ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

. She was also part of her country's delegation in 1995 for the

Fourth World Conference on Women The Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace was the name given for a conference convened by the United Nations during 4–15 September 1995 in Beijing, China. At this conference, governments from around the ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. In 2000 she participated in the follow-up meeting, "Beijing + 5," which was held at the UN General Assembly in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Bailey served as chair of the National Gender Advisory Committee for Jamaica, working to develop policy that would promote gender equality and social justice within the country. The states parties elected Bailey as a member of the CEDAW Committee to serve from January 2009 through the end of 2012. This committee monitors countries' compliance with the CEDAW Convention, which provides a series of articles aiming to end discrimination against women. In a 2015 interview, Bailey recognized the complexities of reaching women's equality, naming "entrenched patriarchal ideology" as the primary factor in structural and ideological inequality.

Recognition

In 2008, Bailey was awarded the CARICOM (Caribbean Community) Triennial Award for Women.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Barbara Evelyn 1942 births Living people 20th-century Jamaican women writers 20th-century Jamaican writers 21st-century Jamaican women writers Jamaican academics Jamaican educators Jamaican feminists Jamaican women academics United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women members 21st-century Jamaican writers Jamaican officials of the United Nations