EDITOR: Traditionally, the duties of women were to stay at home to maintain the house and ensure that the children were well taken care of, while the men worked to secure finances to ensure that the bills were paid and food was brought into the home. Women of today in St Vincent and the Grenadines are more empowered to achieve their aspirations in work and other activities beyond the home.

 Women are taking their education to another level and continue to build careers for themselves. They now pursue occupations that were traditionally dominated by men. Women are parliamentarians, entrepreneurs, engineers, architects and so much more. 

Let us take a look back in time when Ivy Joshua was the first woman to win a parliamentary seat and held it in five consecutive elections in our country. Women obtained the right to vote and to be a part of Parliament in 1951. This resulted in women’s active involvement in politics, women admitted to the bar, women dominating the public and private sectors. However great this watershed period may have been (and remains), women were still very much sidelined. Today, however, women in St Vincent and the Grenadines account for the majority of senior managerial personnel in the public sector. More women are in positions that afford them the potential for greater influence in areas of public policy and governance.

Statistics indicate that the majority of students registering for regional examinations are male.  In the end, however, females have a better showing than the males in the results of these exams. This is a demonstration that, even at a young age, females in our country continue to thrive.

Feminism – The advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of the equality of sexes is now a popular topic within our society.   Even beauty contests, bastions of traditional views of women, are changing to voice more feminist values.   Evidence is the recent Miss SVG ECGC empowerment campaign, which focused on issues affecting women and girls here in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

The role of women has improved dramatically over the years, as their aspirations are now becoming a reality. Although women continue to be primary targets of domestic violence, rape, humiliation, discrimination and other abuses, there is greater awareness of these indignities and more concerted efforts to overcome them.  

Women of our country now have control over their fertility, with the vast majority of contraceptives available. In addition to this, the welfare of women is supported even on a national level.   Women are a significant part of

our society, because, despite it all, they contribute as providers in the household and as outstanding partners in the development of the psychological and emotional aspects of family and community life.

Women continue to maintain the traditional roles, while also achieving tremendous advances in career-building. Groups like Soroptomist International await the involvement of women who yearn to make a difference in the lives of the generations of women to come. Most women of our society are, no doubt, ‘wonder women’.

AJ