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KINGSTON, Jamaica -- As the noon sun streams down, students of the applied science department at Kingston's University of Technology perch on picnic tables outside. They flip open laptops, unwrap jerk-chicken sandwiches, argue over enterprise computing -- and reapply lipstick.
Seventy percent of university students in Jamaica are female, according to the country's Bureau of Women's Affairs. The percentage is even higher in law schools: 80% to 90%.
Women have long made up close to 50% of the labor force in this Caribbean island nation, the bureau says, and are moving into many senior- and middle-management positions. Women now head the Manufacturers Association, the Employers Federation and the American Chamber of Commerce. But there are still few women in the highest positions, particularly in politics.
That, too, appears to be changing, and the biggest change yet will take place March 30, when Portia Simpson-Miller, 60, becomes Jamaica's first female prime minister.
"The Jamaican matriarch is the center of our society," says Mercedes Deane, registrar of the University of Technology, or UTech. "Women here have long been leaders in their homes, churches and communities -- and now they are becoming the engineers, computer programmers, architects and, yes, prime ministers of our future. It is the natural next step."
Simpson-Miller became prime minister-designate when she narrowly defeated National Security Minister Peter Phillips in her dominant People's National Party elections last month. The reggae tunes The Strength of a Woman and Thank You Momma opened nearly all of Simpson-Miller's rallies. The title of another song, It's Woman Time Now, became her unofficial campaign theme.
"The groundswell of support for Simpson-Miller has cut across gender," says columnist Jean Lowrie-Chin of The Jamaica Observer. "You hear as many men as women saying that 'It's woman time now -- give her a chance.' We hear people saying that women are more resistant to corruption, more inclusive, more connected and sympathetic to the people."
Too few women are in top positions, says Faith Webster, director of the Bureau of Women's Affairs. Simpson-Miller's election indicates change may be on the way, she says.
"Portia has gone crashing through that ceiling. It is yet to be seen how this will play out for women in general, but we are optimistic," Webster says.
A career politician who represents some of Jamaica's poorest citizens, Simpson-Miller has been a party member for 34 years and has held several ministerial positions.
Simpson-Miller is not the first female leader in the region. Barbados, Dominica, Haiti and Guyana have had female presidents. In Chile, Michelle Bachelet was sworn in March 11 as that country's first female leader. In Peru, Lourdes Flores is campaigning to make similar history in elections April 9.
In Argentina, women hold 39% of congressional seats. Chile's Bachelet has named women to half her Cabinet posts, including such traditional male bastions as the economic and defense ministries.
Simpson-Miller is building on Jamaica's traditional matriarchal culture, says sociologist Hermione McKenzie, president of the Association of Women's Organizations of Jamaica.
"Our country is a turbulent and violent one in which you need assertiveness to survive," she says. "Women here developed strong skills. And then, in large numbers, they began seeking out higher education because they knew they needed impeccable qualifications -- better than those of their male counterparts -- to get a foot in the door."
With a larger pool of qualified, educated women, it was only a matter of time before women began taking on leadership roles in the country, says Glenda Simms, an adviser to Simpson-Miller on gender issues. "Portia symbolizes possibility to every girl and boy. She is proof that you can, in fact, move up in Jamaica."
The new prime minister intends to further encourage female participation in government and decision-making, Simms says.
As women move up the ranks here, however, many question whether men are being marginalized. "Quite possibly, and that's not good either," McKenzie says.
Theodore Thompson, a student at UTech, admits that having so many women in his class intimidated him at first. Now he realizes that "some women are just very good at recalling, and other women are very good at calculating."
The problem with men, he says, "is that our memory is not that good. ... And maybe our discipline is a little lacking, too."
Having a woman as the country's new leader, he concludes, means "another male-dominated area is gone." But that, too, "we can get used to."
Harman is Latin America correspondent for USA TODAY and The Christian Science Monitor
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