4th annual Women’s Award held at Bliss

Tonight women from all over the country and their supporters are gathered at the Bliss for the fourth annual Outstanding Women’s Awards. The presentation marks the conclusion of four weeks of successful activities commemorating Women’s Month. Today Director of the Women’s Department, Icilda Humes, told us how and why they selected the awardees.

Icilda Humes, Director, Women’s Department
“It came about because we thought there was a need to recognise the good work that women in our community have made. We have a lot of unsung heroes. We have other persons who are perhaps not as visible and behind the scenes but nonetheless, they’ve been doing good work for the advancement of women and for the development of their community. And we felt that in observation of International Women’s Day we needed to include their achievements and our overall recognition in appreciated for what they have done.”

Kendra Griffith
“How do you go about selecting these women?”

Icilda Humes
“The Women’s Department has selected six women and that’s one from each district and we’ve done that through district committees. The other women, because we have twenty-two women being awarded, but only six of those women are being awarded by the Women’s Department. The remainder of those awardees came basically from respective organizations. It was not a nomination process, where there was a big selection committee. What we did was we extended an invitation to various agencies, government and civil society to recognise a woman of their choice.”

The six women chosen by the Women’s Department for recognition are Amira Leiva from Corozal; Nelita Sambula Doherty of Orange Walk; Gertrude Velasques from the Belize District; Anna Silva, who hails from Cayo; Jacqueline Nembhard of the Stann Creek District, and Florence Pennell Johnson from Toledo. There is also an award for Outstanding Women’s Group, which goes to the Maya Centre Women’s Group; meanwhile Mary Open Doors, the shelter for battered women, will be recognised as the Outstanding Women’s Organization.