Belizean women: Much done, much to do

Earlier in this newscast, we made a tongue-in-cheek reference to Women’s Week, reporting on the exploits of three accused robbers. But the role of females is changing radically in fields other than crime. For the past week News 5’s Ann-Marie Williams has been talking to a number of Belizean women in high places and found that a generation ago her efforts would not have been possible.

Ann-Marie Williams, Reporting

After the 1995 Beijing conference on women, the government decided to seriously look at the issue of women’s advancement. Director of the Women’s Department for the last ten years is Anita Zetina. She said, as women we’ve come a long way since Beijing, but we’re still not where we want to be.

Anita Zetina, Women’s Director

“One of the first things that was done after the Beijing conference–having identified the area of women in decision making as a priority area–the National Women’s Commision at the time, along with the Interamerican Development Bank, together commissioned a study to look at women in leadership and in the political area.”

The resulting I.D.B. funded publication is entitled, “Women in Politics, Seeking Opportunities for Leadership in Belize.” Two thousand women from all over the country were interviewed on the issue of political, community and educational leadership.

One finding is that women often play the role of supporting actress in many positions of leadership. However, chair of the Curriculum and Instruction Department at U.B., Dr. Eve Aird feels differently.

Eve Aird, Chair, Curriculum Dept., U.B.

“Several of the department chairs within the various faculties are women. The Dean of the Faculty of Education within which I work, is a women, Mrs. Cynthia Thompson. Several directors, Lydia Loskot at the Regional Language Centre, Dorla Rosado, who is the Director of Student Affairs, Pita Rahm, who is the Director of Quality Assurance, and of course Pat Bennett who is the Director of Physical Education, all women. Dr. Omitada Adediran, the Vice President of Academic Affairs of course is a woman.”

Aird says women graduates outnumber men by two to one, but when they enter the teaching profession, it is the men who usually wind up as principals. We met Aird supervising a student at Hattieville Government School.

Anita Zetina

“More women in our educational system and even at our tertiary level institutions, that education is not translating into better jobs for women, or even better salaries. So while we may be saying, oh we have eighty percent or eighty-five percent of women attending our university, it does not mean that women are earning as much as the men in our society.”

Eve Aird

“The change lies in classrooms like this, where teachers when working with children in infant one and two, that’s where the change will begin. We have do a lot of gender awareness and socialising young men and women to recognise that there is equality within the genders and that women are as capable as men in assuming leadership positions.”

One woman who shows she’s as capable as men in assuming leadership position, is mother and grandmother, Margaret McKenzie. A graduate of Wesley College, who once worked as a cleaner at the Fort George Hotel, recently qualified as an attorney after working as a Magistrate for four years.

Margaret McKenzie, Magistrate/Attorney

“This has always been a male profession, so for a female to come up now and be a qualified person and working especially up here, sometimes I feel pressured, sometimes I feel like I am not wanted. But those are the feelings that pushes me to go where I feel that I am needed and to go where I think that I will make it. No matter what the pressure is, I will continue to go on because I do feel pressure up here sometimes, because there is still this male mentality that only the man can do the job well.”

Ann-Marie Williams

“The government of the day joined forces with the United Nations after the Beijing conference in 1995 in promising to promote thirty percent of Belizean women to decision making positions. They outlined in their Women’s Agenda of 1998 that they will be promoted at CEOs, heads of departments and appointed to statutory bodies. One of the five CEOs appointed is Patricia Mendoza.”

Mendoza, a single mother of two, worked at the Central bank for over sixteen years and never thought of one day being a chief executive officer.

Patricia Mendoza, CEO, Min. of Natural Resources

“I think the most interesting challenge about being a women CEO that I am experiencing, is the difference I think between the thought process and just the way of going about business between men and women. There is a difference, so it makes for interesting living.”

Mendoza feels like sometimes her staff treats her differently than they would a man.

Patricia Mendoza

“One of the things I found, little instances, sometimes you may give an instruction and maybe it would have been second guessed. But very early on, I was very clear about the fact that if I gave an instruction it was because it was with thought behind it in certain issues. I believe in management by sort of co-management, and so I don’t think that I would feel that kind of resistance, because we dialogue and it’s a management team.”

Ann-Marie Williams

“Confront any number of people about the low rate of women political representation, and they will undoubtedly divide between those who say it does matter and those who say it doesn’t. But according to two-time mayor of Dangriga, an first woman Speaker of the House turn President of the Senate, Sylvia Flores, it does matter.”

Sylvia Flores, President of the Senate

“Women need to take up positions of power because we, from our very unique experience of being women, our very nature, we need to reflect what our experiences are, which in most cases are different than men. We bring to the whole aspect of power, a unique appreciation for femininity and we can only reflect that if we are where decisions are made. And so I feel that women need to participate more, but unfortunately there are those great sacrifices that we make.”

The publication “Women in Politics” asked what Belize wants to achieve by increasing women’s representation? It also shows that a simple insertion of women into positions of power without altering the conditions under which they must operate may perpetuate gender relations instead of change them. Flores couldn’t agree more.

Sylvia Flores

“In a society where there is fifty-fifty I would want to think, men, women, don’t you think the other half needs to be represented? I just feel that women by the very nature that they are a half of society, women hold up half the world was it, we need to be involved more in those positions of power. It shouldn’t be a compromise situation, a tokenism, simply put a few women there to reflect that yes, we are an egalitarian society, that we need to have women there for the sake of just having them there. We need to really take real positions to be able reflect that yes, we have real power that represent our experiences.”

Flores says it’s not all women who want to run for office. However, there are sometimes not enough opportunities for those who want to.

Sylvia Flores

“We do not suddenly rise to power, we do not rise from that low level to that height power, there is a process that takes us along the way. So we need to encourage more women to be able to stand for office, because I think that there are women in our society who are capable of taking up office, but they have to be encouraged. And maybe we need to adopt the quota system, whether by a policy of government or our parties, I think we need to really appreciate the need to involve women. We have to coach them, we have to cajole them probably, to really get to run for political office.”

Ann-Marie Williams for News 5.

Belize joins the rest of the world in marking International Women’s Day on March eighth under the theme: “Celebrating our strengths and accomplishments.”