Women?s Commission notes large contribution

While the People’s United Party highlighted some of the obstacles facing Belizean women, during a forum today hosted by the National Commission for Women, Kathy Esquivel, the commission’s president said, the focus should not be on the problems women face. Instead women should celebrate who they are and the contributions they have made to society. The forum, which focused on gender issues and political reform was supposed to have highlighted the preliminary findings of a women’s leadership assessment research, funded by the Interamerican Development Bank but the gathering was told that at this time the report was not ready to be presented. But the afternoon got interesting as the forum’s guest speaker, Jamaican Jeanette R. Grant Woodham gave a rundown of just how large a role Caribbean women have played in politics and just how small their reward has been when compared to their male counterparts.

Jeanette R. Grant Woodham, Guest Speaker

“The worth of Jamaican women in politics is traditionally perceived as invaluable as grassroots workers. Those who canvass, those who scrutiny your work, cater for fund raising events, the cheering crowd for male candidates are left with a dependency syndrome. Women have been regarded as nurturers whether of children or the image of the candidate or the party. It is significant, however, that Caribbean women have been the gears in the machinery of political parties. Throughout the region we have seen them as the backbone of the development process providing the implementation of party policies, and the larger percent of political workplace are women.

However, the men have been the ultimate beneficiaries of our work. We have been agents used to promote the ideologies of our parties, but traditionally we have not had the privilege of participating in the formulation of policies at the decision making level.”

Women’s Week, which comes to a close on March fourteenth, is being celebrated under the theme: “Women and men, equal partners in decision making.”