Speaker: All Women Parliamentarians Unanimous Against Plus TV

Valerie Woods

Speaker Woods, who currently serves as Interim Chair of the Women Parliamentarians’ Caucus, says the matter is one that has all the women parliamentarians that make up the House of Representatives and the Senate holding the same position.

Valerie Woods, House Speaker

“That’s one moment of celebration – the members of the Women Parliamentarian Caucus include all women senators, it include the presiding officer for the Senate, it includes the presiding officer for the House and three of the women Members of the House. And it’s something that we take great pride in because it is above the political affiliations or the party affiliations and it is a space created for women parliamentarians to discuss and raise the awareness of matters that are particularly of importance around gender equality, gender sensitization, because it is an issue. So we’re very proud that we’ve been able to sustain the effort so far. It’s not easy. We really and sincerely hope that it will cause a rethink moving forward by all of us – those in Parliament, those outside of Parliament, those in the media – that it will cause a rethink to – the cliché goes right: to think before we speak. There is no request for disciplinary action. The caucus can’t request that. There is a request for an apology because an apology was not made. That’s not an apology that was given and that’s a view held by the caucus.”

News Five contacted Louise Wade, Junior who is the host of Plus TV’s Rise and Shine and he declined to offer a comment on the basis that Plus TV is seeking legal guidance.