What do Japan and Barbados have in common right now? Answer: Their economies are both flagging. What is Japan doing about it?
First the Japanese prime minister has dissolved parliament in an apparent attempt to shore up support for his government via an early election which he is portraying as a referendum on his economic revitalisation policies. But we all know “dah won’t happen here – not in dis country”!
Prime Minister Abe Shinzo has apparently also introduced policies which look to reinvigorate Japan’s flagging economy by unleashing the under-utilised potential of the country’s female population. In January 2014, at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Abe stated: “Japan must become a place where women shine.” His policies have been dubbed “womanomics” (www.nippon.com).
Prime Minister, you’ve tried the men and look where it got us. Perhaps you should give the women a chance. Despite what some would have you believe, running a government is much like running a household – and more and more households in Barbados are headed by women who cut and contrive daily to make ends meet. They know that you have to budget and you can’t spend more than you earn or you’ll eventually go bust.
I received an email recently which gives an insight into the difference between men and women’s outlook. A woman asks a man: “Do you drink beer?” The man replies: “Yes.” Woman: “How many beers a day?” Man: “Usually about 3.” “How much do you pay per beer?” The man replies: “$5 which includes a tip.” “And how long have you been drinking?” Man: “About 20 years, I suppose.”
“So a beer costs $5 and you have three beers a day which puts your spending each month at $450. In one year, it would be approximately $5 400, correct?” Man: “Correct.” Woman: “If in one year you spend $5 400, not accounting for inflation, the past 20 years puts your spending at $108 000, correct?” Man: “Correct.”
Woman: “Do you know that if you didn’t drink so much beer, that money could have been put in a step-up interest savings account and after accounting for compound interest for the past 20 years, you could have now bought a Ferrari?” Man: “Do you drink beer?” Woman: “No.” Man: “Where’s your Ferrari?”
What the woman could have gone on to say is that she didn’t squander her money, neither would she consider buying a Ferrari, but she used her savings to buy real estate which wouldn’t devalue like the Ferrari, and that she had medical and pension plans to give her security in her later years. That’s the difference in thinking between men and women.
With a woman as minister of finance, I’m sure we wouldn’t be borrowing to pay salaries, employing excess people, borrowing to make us eligible to borrow some more, travelling first class instead of economy. We wouldn’t be squandering; we would be saving to invest in tangibles to grow our economy which would now be holding its own or maybe even booming.
Look at our female representation in Parliament. In the Lower House five out of 30 (16.6 per cent) and in the Senate five out of 21 (23.8 per cent). Grossly inequitable. In response to women who said politics was not for them – they only knew how to run a household – a member of the Pan-African Parliament at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women noted: “If they can run a household, they can run a country.”
Think about it: you have to work together and negotiate with your spouse or partner to make decisions and get things done (bipartisanship), understand and respond to the needs of the various family members (constituencies), and do so strategically with limited resources (budgeting, redistribution, long-term investments).”
But the danger is that politics tends to taint people’s values. Their behaviour can take a 180 degree turn. As someone once said: “Take the most radical revolutionary and place him on the throne of all Russia and give him the dictatorial power and, before a year has passed, he will become worse than the Czar himself.”
Still we should take a chance. Maybe we should give the women a try at the Ministry of Finance or perhaps go the whole hog for female leadership. Surely anything would be an improvement.
Dr Frances Chandler is a former independent senator. Email fchandler@caribsurf.com