Several women’s rights activists are of the belief that Guyanese women need to break the barriers of tradition and start a process which will guarantee them more meaningful contributions to the country’s governance and decision-making processes.
Programme Officer and lecturer of the Women’s Studies Unit, International Development Studies, at the University of Guyana, Audrey Benn, explained that women and girls, in particular, need to understand that, in order to bring about gender balance, they must be more aggressive. While she acknowledged that women continue to play an important role in Guyana’s social and economic development, she lamented their lack of confidence, and sometimes interest, in Guyana’s governance and decision-making processes, which allows more men to be in the forefront of these affairs.
She believes that women and policymakers need to organise themselves to challenge the status quo that seeks to suggest that power or authority must lie only in the hands of men. She thinks that only then would real change and balance in all sectors be realised.
Recognising that a significant amount of work has been done on gender equality in Guyana, Benn explained that there is still much more to be done, especially in the year to come. Benn declared during the interview.
Indra Chanderpaul
The professional counsellor and social worker said the notions that women are weak, are ill-equipped to lead, and are soft-hearted are certainly not true, because women have always been the backbone of the development taking place, making contributions that are equal to men’s.
Meanwhile, as Guyana enters an election year, Benn called on women to realise that they play a major role in democracy and governance, as they will inevitably be affected in some way by the outcome of any electoral process. She urged them to get registered, and to exercise their democratic right by casting their ballots for whichever entity or political group they desire to see govern.
Benn has more than a decade of experience in the area of women’s studies, empowerment and gender equality.
Meanwhile, parliamentarian and prime ministerial candidate for the Alliance For Change (AFC), Sheila Holder, expressed sentiments similar to Benn’s.
She lamented the fact that women were not exhibiting enough interest in the democratic process.
She opined that there was need not only for them to play a more integral role in the decision- making process, but to believe in themselves. This, she says, can happen only when women aspire to some of the highest political offices in the country.
She was adamant that women need to stop seeing themselves as being “behind men and behind the male-dominated political structure of parties”. She is convinced that, if women start to see themselves as front runners and men’s equals, then Guyana would be a different and better place, not necessarily because of their decisions only, but because equality would have been achieved.
