Most Jamaican men and women feel persons of the opposite sex have more rights than they do, according to the latest Gleaner-commisioned Bill Johnson poll.

According to the poll, conducted by Johnson and his team on June 18 and 19 among 1,008 residents in 84 communities islandwide, 64 per cent of men believed women have more rights than men, as opposed to 27 per cent who felt men had more rights than women.

On the contrary, 53 per cent of women believed men have more rights than women do, while 37 per cent said women have more rights.

Faith Webster, the executive director of the Bureau of Women's Affairs, said men could be of the view that women have more rights than they do because women are now advancing academically and professionally.

She noted that while there are more unemployed women than men, it would appear in some instances that an environment is being created that allows women to hold more of the positions once held by men.

"It appears that more women are moving up professionally and we now have our first female prime minister and chief justice," she said.

As such, she said more men believe that their rights to certain things in society are being limited.

No longer dependent onmen

Mrs. Webster said women are more conscious, more sensitised, and more economically empowered. They are owning land and are no longer as dependent on men as they used to be. Therefore, men believe women now have more rights, she said.

On the other hand, Lanny Davidson, founder of Fathers' Crisis Centre and Fathers In Action, said women may believe men have more power than women do because managerial positions are still dominated by men in most organisations. Men also outnumber women in politics and they control the means of production.

As a result of this, he surmised, women believe men are more powerful and invariably have more rights.

But, he noted, men might think women have more rights because women have more power in the home.

"They control the children, she decides when to procreate and if the men choose to do it in his own time, she can say it was rape and he can be charged," Mr. Davidson told The Gleaner.

Meanwhile, Johnson's poll results also showed that 62 per cent of those surveyed did not believe there was equality of pay in the labour force. When it was broken down by sex, both men and women were of the view that there was not equal pay for equal work. This is despite the existence of laws which state that there should be equal pay for equal work.

Mrs. Webster said this perception would appear to be correct as, in some companies, especially in the private sector, some women are still being paid less to do the same job their male counterparts do.