Trinidad elects its first female P.M.; is Belize ready for the same?

kalma Persad bissessar

Still in the Caribbean, this past Monday the twin islands of Trinidad and Tobago held early elections and Kamla Persad Bissessar emerged as the first woman to lead the island as Prime Minister. The People’s Partnership, a coalition of parties, won twenty-nine of forty-one parliamentary seats.  Outgoing Prime Minister Patrick Manning conceded defeat by Persad early in the evening when it was becoming clear that his party was facing the biggest electoral defeat.  It’s a big victory for women and Persad publically stated she celebrated her win on behalf of women who face many barriers.  News Five spoke to a few Trinidadian-Belizeans this afternoon on the significance of the victory and whether or not Belize is ready for a female P.M.

Vanessa Prudahomme Maw, Trinidadian/Belizean

“It is an honor for a woman to win the election. This is something we all wanted. To me I think women, we do have a lot more power and Trinidadians and women on a whole have a lot more influence. We are very much emotional and more touchy and we can look at more problems that are happening.”

Judy McCutcheon, Trinidadian/Belizean

“Well in mind to me it says that we’re progressive, we’ve come a long way. We don’ look at gender in order for us to decide who would do the better job for the people of Trinidad and Tobago.”

Jose Sanchez

“It’s about the person”

Judy McCutcheon

“It’s about the person and what they can bring and what changes they can effect for the benefit of the people.”

Jose Sanchez

“Miss Persad, what do they expect of her?”

Judy McCutcheon

“Well, for one thing they’re expecting her to be completely different from the last prime minister judging by the landslide win that they had. I think one of the things that would be foremost would be the education system.”

saira mahabir

Saira Mahabir, Trinidadian/Belizean

“Gender and politics in Trinidad is growing phenomenally and we are going to see much more of that. We have one of the youngest candidates ever going to be holding a position. It will be interesting to know what kind of position she will be holding and Trinidadians now are looking to see that change and they are willing to go all the way to see that change.”

Jose Sanchez

“Is there anything in particular that Trinidadians expect of this new female prime minister and her government?”

Saira Mahabir

“Oh, that’s—everybody has so much high expectations of what Kamla would be able to do for the country. This morning I spoke to a friend who worked to her closely and they have so much to offer the people in Trinidad that they were lacking so much of. I’m not saying that the last party in power didn’t do a lot, but she has so much more to offer.”

Vanessa Prudahomme Maw

Vanessa Prudahomme Maw

“In terms of that part, Belize having a woman as a prime minister that will take a while because we here in Belize think that women should just stay in the background and just be quiet.  So it will take us for a while to get there, sorry to say that.”

Judy McCutcheon

“No. It is my honest opinion that is not going to happen anytime soon. Look at the current government right now. There is absolutely no female ministers so I don’t see Belize being ready for a female prime minister anytime, anytime soon.”

Jose Sanchez

“Why do you feel that way? There have been female ministers in both (PUP/UDP) governments.”

Judy McCutcheon

“I don’t know if women just don’t want to get into politics because they perceive politics to be a dirty game.  That could be one of the reasons why we don’t have any women right now.”

Saira Mahabir

“I don’t see that happening at all here. But we need to start that kind of trend here as well to see women get into politics. It’s a great thing to see happen for women especially.”

During her victory Speech Kamla Persad Bissessar said “I bring to my leadership not just political experience and government experience but I also carry into the office of the Prime Ministership the nurturing nature of a mother and grandmother and I will look after you all as my own. And when someone asked me what was the first thing I would do as Prime Minister I instinctively replied “To visit a few Children’s Homes and Schools”. And having said that, it is what I intend to do. And I guess I said that because this is where the change must all begin.”