UNC leader scores first goal at football congress

The dinner was part of the CFU’s 33rd Annual Congress held in Trinidad and Tobago. The CFU partnered with the England 2018 World Cup Bidding Committee which is being led by former Arsenal Chief Executive Officer David Dein.

The team was in TT to woo CONCACAF and CFU president Jack Warner, also FIFA vice-president to support their bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

Persad-Bissessar who last Thursday became the first female Opposition leader in Trinidad and Tobago was congratulated by Dein for her speech and was later told by Jamaican Football Federation (JFF) president Captain Horace Burrell that she is “prime ministerial material”.

In her debut speech at a high-level football conference Persad-Bissessar got right into the action by highlighting unbelievable global statistics of the torment women endure today.

Among them she explained that we still live in a world where it is commonplace for women to be bought and sold for prostitution, sometimes girls as young as four and five-years-old.

Persad-Bissessar noted also that we live in a world where newborn girl children are still killed because of their gender while, in spite of the fact they make up half of the world’s population and 70 percent of the world’s poor, an amazing two-thirds are not taught to read and write.

The new UNC boss who has resisted calls for Warner to be removed as Chief Whip of the party, said that there are women today who are still being denied the right to vote and sometimes speak out on matters that concern them and their children.

She pointed to the ridiculous crime rate which has gripped Trinidad and Tobago, noting that it affects more women that any other group — directly or indirectly.

Persad-Bissessar reminded all in attendance that women are left with the responsibility of raising children when the sons of single mothers are gunned down in gang wars in the Laventille area.

She explained also that women are the ones left to grieve for the victims of robberies, kidnappings and rape.

Attending the function were her colleagues Dr Tim Goopeesingh, Winston “Gypsy” Peters, Natasha Navas, Mayor of Chaguanas, Nizam Baksh, Minister of Legal Affairs Peter Taylor; Oliver Camps, Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) president, and Yves Jean Bart, Haitian Football Federation president and former French international footballer David Ginola.

Persad-Bissessar admitted that the country is in need of the strength, protection and vision to guide it through a visibly dark period. She added that there are lots of women who are forced to hold down two and three jobs to eke out an existence and support their families, yet they face sexual harassment as well as violence to and from their workplace, amidst a dysfunctional support systems that were placed there to help them.

“There is so much misrepresentation and misunderstanding of women’s role and contribution in our society. We comprise most of the teachers and where girls outstrip boys in academic performance, yet they do not hold down many top positions in the corporate world or in politics,” she said.

Persad-Bissessar promised that she will establish a National Commission on the status of women to address the socio- economic issues that women face.

This commission is expected to be different from the ineffective gender board that has been established by Government she said. It will examine and make policy recommendations, analyse current programmes and ensure that they are implemented.

She made it clear that although women the world over, have made strides in spite of the difficulties faced, it should not be seen as a battle for superiority but rather a struggle for equality and justice.

She embraced a statement by FIFA president Sepp Blatter that the future of football is feminine and promised to take the field as an official if women’s football will help to alter the perceptions and adjust attitudes towards women.