Women who empower our nation

by Sherrill-Ann Mason

(Feature speech at Vincy Cares Dinner in Brooklyn, New York on December 12, 2015)

Good evening to you my Vincentian people and friends of SVG. (Protocol having been established) I wish to say how good it is to be at this prestigious event that celebrates the best of our “Vincentianness”. Thank you for the kind introduction. First, let me take this opportunity to publicly thank Vincycares for their continued commitment to the education and upliftment of the children of our beloved homeland St Vincent and the Grenadines.{{more}}Your efforts must be applauded and all of us must continue to support your expansion. I also wish to thank the organization for the opportunity to address this audience this evening on such an important and timely topic: ‘Women Who Empower Our Nation’. I am truly humbled to have been chosen. Moreso, to be cast in the shadows of this phenomenal compilation of distinguished honorees is in itself an honour. These women have demonstrated by their individual and collective actions that women are a force to be reckoned with and demonstrate that with space to thrive, women can distinguish themselves. These women, through struggles and storms have all risen to the challenge and have stood head and shoulders amongst the best of us. This evening, I congratulate each of you, (Mrs Yvonne Patterson, Mrs Jean Johnny-Findlay, Ms Gailene Windsor, Ms Kimon Baptiste, and Dr Jacqueline James-Lyttle) for your achievements and contributions to our nation, and to the upliftment of women in particular demonstrated by your commitment and exemplary personal and professional contributions in the fields of community development, culture, sports, business, entertainment, and women’s empowerment. I applaud you for your efforts and leadership.

With that being said, I wish to turn your attention to the theme of this evening’s dinner, “Women who empower our nation”. As an educator, I am very tempted to break you up into small groups for discussion, but I will curb that urge and just ask for your undivided attention for the next few minutes as I address the topic.

Like our honorees this evening, numerous women have been at the cornerstone of our nation’s development; women like Elma Francois, Norma Keizer, Rene Baptiste, Yvonne Francis-Gibson, Erica McIntosh, Earlene Horne, Nelcia Robinson, Avis Yorke, Gloria Ballantyne and a host of others, have been at the forefront of our national development and empowering our nation. These women have broken barriers; have been trailblazers in the fields of activism, education, politics, business, community development, entertainment and sports; but more so they have given us powerful examples of what it means to be bold and courageous at a time when challenges abound. These women had the audacity to hope for a better St Vincent and the Grenadines and Caribbean, and while others may have turned away at a closed door, they climbed through windows to realize their dreams.

This evening, however, rather than give a historical narrative of these phenomenal women, I would like to turn the mirror on each of us in this room. I want all of us to look at ourselves critically and ask: “have we done all in our power to support our women and to empower our nation?” To my sisters, I ask: “have we carried ourselves as women of distinction?” At the risk of being presumptuous, I venture to say that some of us will find ourselves wanting. Remember, for women to empower our nation, women must first be empowered.

But having just witnessed the conclusion of a vicious election season in SVG, I weep for the injured soul of our nation. Among other injuries, I saw firsthand how far women have NOT gone since the birth of our nation. While there is still debate about the winners and losers of the election polls, the image of WOMEN has emerged on the losing side of our electioneering. Here is why I say that. The overarching images of Vincentian women in 2015 were that of women as sexual weapons, victims, window dressings, political pawns, sheeple, and for the most part supporters not leaders. The issue of women generally was not shown in a positive light. Sadly, it was used for political expediency and not for the genuine upliftment of women or our nation.

This reality has demonstrated the urgency with which we must work to highlight women as positive contributors to our nation’s development. This is not unique to SVG and as one popular American entertainer said: “We need to reshape our own perception of how we view ourselves. We have to step up as women and take the lead.” We as Vincentians have got to show the world that Vincentian women are not only victims, but Vincentian women are strong. Think deeply about the resilience of our women and you will see the strength of which I speak. So our urgent task is to change the narrative about our women, so that women are seen as agents of change and human beings possessing agency to effect change in their own lives and the life of the nation. And we must get to the place where, like Canadian President Trudeau, who, when questioned about why he appointed women to 50 per cent of his Cabinet positions, simply said “Because it’s 2015!” Sticking with the Canadians, we have got to have the same attitude as we head into 2016, and we must not be afraid to embrace what Canadian writer GD Anderson espoused “Feminism isn’t about making women strong. Women are already strong. It is about changing the way the world perceives that strength.”

Currently, much of the narrative about Vincentian women is that of women as victims of domestic and work place violence, victims of rape, victims of men’s desires, sexual objects and submissive actors. While acknowledging these realities, we must not let that be our dominant frame of reference. We must seek to showcase more of the stories of women like the ones who are being honoured tonight. We must show women in a more positive light. We must show women as courageous. This is not to minimize the challenges and the need to address them, but it is a recognition that equally important is the need to inspire more greatness by showing possibilities and images of women who are daring, ambitious and outspoken. Women must be seen as strong, important and valuable partners in our development.

In that vein, women must stand up and stand together to demand better conditions that would allow us to safely leave bad situations, or to defend ourselves from the assault of sexual predators, knowing that there are strong laws and programs to protect us. We must demand that women share power equally so that when decisions are made that impact our lives, our unique needs are considered. We need to ensure that there are programs that teach women and men how to love and respect each other and how to parent well, so that our families are a strong foundation for our society and our children become more respectful, industrious and critical thinking Vincentians and citizens of this world. We must promote programs that encourage us to pool our resources, small as they may be, so that we can help to create employment, genuine upliftment for women and a more empowered, stable nation. It is no coincidence that we talk about “MOTHER NATURE”. We say Mother Nature because women are a powerful force that carries and nurtures our societies and civilization, and until we respect that force there will always be imbalance, much like the climatic changes we see and are confronted by today.

(To be continued next week