Women’s group wants politicians to keep promises
By Shirley Thomas
Guyana Chronicle
March 24, 2007
A GROUP of about 46 women from diverse ethnic, cultural and political backgrounds, but mainly grassroots from hinterland and coastal Guyana, wants politicians to keep their promises to them.
The women, brought together by the Red Thread non-governmental organisation, Guyana Coordinator of the Global Women’s Strike, met at Red Thread’s Adelaide and Princes Street headquarters in Georgetown for several days this week during which they addressed many issues crucial to the wellbeing of their peers.
The group, which said that it is being funded by Canada Fund, said it has a mandate to hold political parties in Parliament accountable to grassroots women for the promises made in their elections manifestoes.
Claiming that unsalaried grassroots women are a priceless and integral part of the nucleus of society, they contend that they have been taken for granted and neglected for too long.
They are now pressing demands for the rights of their peers to be respected, and have identified four priority areas for which they will be waging an intense campaign. The areas identified are:
** A liveable income
** Affordable access to goods and services
** Protection of women and children from violence
** A strong political voice for all women
The concerns were outlined at a media briefing Thursday, on the penultimate day of the six-day forum held by them at the Red Thread Cross Roads Women’s Centre. The forum was organised by Red Thread.
Red Thread said it has been holding activities locally to mark International Women’s Day (IWD), on or around March 8 with the theme, “Invest in Caring, not Killing”.
Other countries around the world having similar activities include Peru and Venezuela on this continent; India in Asia, Uganda in Africa, Trinidad & Tobago and Haiti in the Caribbean, and countries in North America and Europe.
Forming themselves into a ‘Network of and for Women from the Interior’, the group whose aim is to represent the interest of their peers, began their six day caucus Sunday, and reported having broken new ground.
The press statement prepared by the women’s network was read at the media briefing in parts by a team of nine women.
Joylyn Bacchus, a representative from Linden, noted that this year the local body observed International Women’s Day not with a public event but with grassroots women meeting among themselves, to plan how to form and build a strong network.
They looked at ways of defending the rights of grassroots women across race, across age, “no matter where we live, whether or not we have a disability, whether we are single mothers, mothers who live with spouses or partners, or women who are caring for the children of relatives, neighbours and strangers,” Bacchus said.
Other decisions made over the last six days include the need to:
** demand implementation of the Ministry of Education policy that no child can be refused education because the parent/s cannot afford every item of the school uniform
** To fight for changes in how the National Insurance Scheme is administered and for measures to hold employers accountable when they make deductions from wages and fail to pay them in to the NIS
** To step up monitoring of how VAT is affecting prices to continue the campaign for a VAT that is fair and fairly implemented, and that is not exploited by greedy business people
** To call for a decent minimum wage in the private sector, beginning with domestic workers, security guards, bartenders and other restaurant and hotel workers, and shop assistants
There was a great emphasis on stamping out violence against women, as evidenced by some of the slogans displayed around the conference room.
Some read “More money, Less Violence; Less work; less Violence”;
During the briefing Red Thread and the network of women said the women’s interest group was being launched with support from Canada Fund, an overseas organisation which funds projects in Guyana.
Red Thread representative, Ms. Halima Khan, said one of the initiatives of the network would be to hold political parties accountable in Parliament accountable to grassroots women for the promises made in their manifestos, in relation to the four priority areas outlined earlier in the briefing.