Sex and power
Editorial
Stabroek News
January 10, 2004
Because it took so long, one would have expected that they would have got it right. Not so. The long-awaited and very nearly all-important Public Service Commission has finally been appointed, devoid of female representation. Almost immediately afterward, the Caribbean Women's Association (CARIWA) and the National Commission on Women (NCW) wrote denouncing the composition of the PSC as unacceptable.
CARIWA cited the government's adoption of an implementation strategy in fulfilment of the Beijing Platform for Action: aiming towards equity and equality and the ceding to conventions such as the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. The NCW referred to this same convention and stated that in 1996 at its inauguration then president Cheddi Jagan had stated that all state boards and commissions would have one-third female representation.
In a letter [ please note: link provided by LOSP web site ] published this week (SN 07/01/04), Attorney at Law Cavelle Lynch recalled attempts to marginalize women in the not so distant past, at the level of the (male-dominated) Constitution Reform Commission and the (all-male) Parliamentary Oversight Committee on Constitutional Reform. These attempts failed because women intervened. In other sections of the media, voices have been raised condemning the composition of the body and reproaching one group or the other for the non-inclusion of women.
In the midst of all this, there has been a strange silence from the usually vocal bodies which would have been consulted before nominations to the PSC were made and agreed. Why? How were these consultations undertaken? Were the women members of these groups involved in the selection process? Did they agree with the choices made?
Taking nothing away from the qualifications and experience of the gentlemen selected, surely they were not the only choices that could possibly be made? Or are we supposed to believe that there are no women who are just as suitably and eminently qualified for any of the positions on the PSC? Is this then the reason for the (embarrassed) silence from the Guyana Public Service Union, the Federated Unions of Government Employees, the Public Service Senior Staff Association, the Leader of the Opposition and the President of Guyana? Or is it a case of 'Uh oh! We forgot to afford women their token single member, so we had better say nothing and hope it goes away?'
Well, given the current outrage, this is perhaps one issue that will not just go away. One would hope that before long the women who were or should have been involved in the consultations will make their voices heard.
The appointing of the Public Service Commission clears the way for the Police Service and Judicial Service commissions to be activated, since the Public Service Commission chairman must sit on both. It should be noted also that while there is no female representation on the Police Service Commission there is on the Judicial Service Commission, but only because the Chancellor of the Judiciary happens to be a woman. This is not only undemocratic; it is unbalanced and therefore bad for business, because clearly, it does not augur well for gender relations in this country.
We are constantly faced with the evidence that women's and men's lives are changing. More women work than ever before, though not many have been successful in rising to the top of their chosen fields. Women are having children later in life, and fathers are spending more time with their children. Yet there are far fewer women than men in positions of power and influence; the appointment of the Public Service Commission is a case in point. But should we take a peek into any boardroom, council or committee chamber, the chances are that the majority of people around the table will be men.
Isn't it a shame that in the twenty-first century, after years of witnessing talented women in business, public life and politics, we can still see headlines which say 'First woman to head ...'? One-third female representation is a misnomer. Like the newly-appointed Public Service Commission, public and political life is not representative of the society. If there was still any doubt that sex determined power and influence it has now been erased. But the status quo has got to change. It is up to us, the people of Guyana to ensure that our policy-making bodies keep pace with the changes that are occurring around us.