[5]: 96 [11] Although some progress had been made towards women's rights by 2019, "only 24.5% of indicators needed to monitor the SDGs from a gender perspective are available";[13] this creates knowledge gaps in information critical to reaching gender-based goals.

Female presence and demographics differ during the major periods of Guyana's history.The origin of Guyanese diversity is the European colonial creation of a "stratified, color-coded social class.

[14] The inevitable unions resulting from this gender disparity were viewed as perversions, although little was done to address rape or sexual violence against women (who were ever granted rights on a par with their colonial, white masters).

[15] Free Afro-Guyanese and those who had been emancipated sought to avoid the plantation system by establishing their own villages, pooling their money to purchase land for agriculture.

This village movement was seen as a threat to the sugar estates which still needed labor, and the colonial government enacted laws which prevented the purchase of land.

Caste practices and patriarchal rules were easily disrupted by economic hardship, leading to vulnerability; famines led to higher rates of indenture.

Married women made up a smaller percentage, from 25.57 to 35.98 percent[16]: 54  of the total female population emigrating from India to the West Indies between 1845 and 1886.

The months-long journey from India to the Caribbean colonies fostered kinship (jahaji)[16]: 114  between men and women which paralleled the Afro-Guyanese experience on slave ships, and rules about keeping the genders separated were not enforced.

Travel to the West Indies was costly, and the high mortality rate of women during monsoon season led to the Indian Emigration Act VII of 1871,[16]: 105  which dictated lower female quotas during those months.

By the 1880s, it was seen as beneficial to encourage stability to prevent the social unrest seen as a symptom of gender imbalance, and the next five years saw an increase to an average of about 74 percent.

[16]: 56 According to colonial sources, Indian women were "subjugated widows fleeing a repressive, tradition-bound society for the free spaces on plantations abroad"[16]: 12–13  or those engaging in "disloyal, immoral sexual behavior."

Victorian English policy-makers sought to transport women who would be "good wives and mothers", encouraging the social harmony seen as essential for productive workers.

The introduction of Indian women had a polarizing effect on relations between the Afro- and Indo-Guyanese, by enabling the immediate creation of families at the expense of social intermixing.

European and Indian intermingling was seen as a threat to the manhood of the workforce; coupled with the injustices inherent in the plantation system, "Most felt that they could do little to 'protect their women' against outsiders".

Pregnancy put women in a vulnerable position for breaking their work contracts, and legal provisions were often disregarded by plantation management.

Women faced "a triple exploitation of class, ethnicity, and gender ... giving rise to tensions between competing, though unequal patriarchies - the hegemonizing white, the subordinated Indian, and sometimes, albeit very rarely, with the Afro-Caribbean sector.

"[16]: 16 Sugar production was labor-intensive; estate owners did little to develop technology to enhance output, putting the industry in a vulnerable position when faced with global competition.

[16]: 133–134 Unlike the Afro-Guyanese population, who primarily moved to urban areas when they were emancipated, the Indo-Guyanese maintained ties with agriculture after their indenture ended.

By 1917, when the indenture system was abolished, nearly all Indo-Guyanese lived on (or worked for) the sugar estates; in 1939, women made up 31.49 percent[16]: 148  of total Indian agricultural workers.

Formerly-indentured women's roles focused on the "household economy, namely in self-provisioning, peasant and surplus agricultural production and the formation of families.

"[16]: 175  Women took supplementary jobs, such as shopkeepers or vendors of traditional Indian foods (still an important part of general Guyanese cuisine).

The extended family (including children) was crucial to raising capital for land and pooling labor, with a "certain degree of power"[16]: 151  granted to the male head of household.

"[16]: 152  Informal patriarchal patterns took shape, with sons obtaining an education and daughters responsible for household tasks until a young marriage.

[16] Colonial opinion contrasted Afro-Guyanese women with their Indian counterparts, explaining behavior in the context of racial identity rather than as a reaction to the stratification of the plantation system.

Socially-acceptable behavior was attributed to indenture as a "civilizing force" for Indians; former slaves were viewed as lazy and apathetic in the absence of discipline offered by subservience.

[25] Weaknesses in Guyana's infrastructure significantly burden the poorest women, with services such as water and electricity intermittent and directly impacting their income.

[19] Gender ideology in Guyana parallels the Anglo-Protestant ideal of men as breadwinners and women as caregivers which was established during the colonial period and is seen throughout the Caribbean.

Femme lesbians and cis-gendered women of any sexual orientation or identity, who are established in a community and have children from previous marriages, face less hostility.

[19] The Guyana National AIDS Programme Secretariat initiated the Georgetown SW Project in 1996 to develop outreach and awareness of clinical services (including HIV testing) and a network for the distribution of condoms.

[34] Female Guyanese students have outperformed their male counterparts in regional examinations, and more women than men attend universities to advance their careers.