PM: Women are their worst enemies

Some women are their own worst enemies, according to Prime Minister Patrick Manning. He was addressing the Faith Wiltshire Awards Ceremony of the Network of Women’s NGOs at Crowne Plaza on Saturday. While the recent International Women’s Day had shown us the achievements of women, he noted, some problems remained. Manning said: “In some instances though, our women are still the greatest obstacle to their own social and economic progress.”

Sometimes women blocked themselves, he said, by their lack of advocacy. Other times women relied excessively on men, he added. “Often however it is because they premise their advancement solely on dependence on their male counterparts, sometimes with consequences with which we are all too familiar.” The negative results of this, he said, were offspring resulting from women searching for security in men, unplanned families, breakdown in family life, dependence and insecurity, perpetuation of a vicious cycle of poverty, and social degeneracy. “A large part of this can be removed by education and training, and the provision of more opportunities for our womenfolk. But it is for our women to take advantage of what is available, so the Government can progressively adjust its options over time.” 

Noting the global theme of 2004 International Women’s Day, Manning lamented the increase in AIDS/HIV rates among women. The Network modified this year’s theme to be women and  information and communications technnology (ICT).The event honoured seven women prominent in ICT and launched a fund for bursaries for women studying information technnology at the University of the West Indies (UWI). The honourees were Dr Kim Mallalieu, Dr Gillian Marcelle, Jacqueline Morris, Dr Olabisi Kuboni, Dr Gillian Goddard, Josanne Lennard and Therese Cornellis. Speakers hailed the late Faith Wiltshire, past coordinator of the Network, who died 10 years ago and in whose name the awards were given. Speakers included Minister of Community Development, Joan Yuille- Williams; Director of the Division of Gender Affairs, Monica Williams; Network coordinator, Hazel Brown; past coordinator, Asha Kambon; and event chairman, Grace Talma.