PNP Women's Movement ready to work with new PM

By DONNA HUSSEY-WHYTE All Woman writer husseyd@jamaicaobserver.com

Monday, January 09, 2012

The People's National Party Women's Movement (PNPWM) has signalled its readiness to work with newly elected Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, and other gender groups, to further educate and bring about changes that will benefit not only women, but the entire society.

"A number of the issues that Mrs Simpson Miller has been highlighting are part of the mandate of the PNP Women's Movement for women, but she has highlighted them for the entire society," Jennifer Edwards, president of the PNPWM told AW following the PM's swearing in last Thursday.

"The truth is that we believe that when women are empowered, when women participate, when women are energised, when they are educated, the entire society benefits. So we will certainly be a part of the advocacy group, that monitoring group that ensures that the mandate which has been given by Simpson Miller, and in fact by the entire party through it Progressive Agenda and through its manifesto, are effected. We believe a number of the things that they have said that they intend to focus on has to be done through all of us," she added.

Edwards said the group is particularly interested in the education and the economic empowerment aspects of what the present Government said it will do.

She noted that the only issue that could prevent the PNPWM from moving forward is the extent to which the Jamaican people are committed and prepared to accept that some tough decisions will have to be made.

"There are going to be choices, and not everything that they would like to do we will be able to do at the same time. So there will have to be choices. I believe that once we consult with the people, once we take them into our confidence, and once we get them to be confident of what those decisions are, then we will have their full co-operation in achieving what needs to be done," Edwards said.

"We are not naive to believe that there is any magic wand to be waved, and we also know that we are operating in a very high economic environment. We believe that we can prioritise our expenditure, we can reorganise our expenditure to achieve the kinds of outcomes that Mrs Simpson Miller has been talking about," she added.

According to the PNPWM boss, while some legislation affecting women have already been passed, issues like sexual harassment and women's participation on boards are some areas that the group will be advocating.

"The issue of sexual harassment has been one of the most difficult ones and the women's movement will certainly be (taking) the government to task on that legislation. And we will be working with the various women's groups in society to seek their support for the advocacy for the enactment of these pieces of legislation," Edwards said.

She added that Parliament, to a large extent, is still a male-dominated space and therefore it will take more than just the PNPWM to achieve these goals.

"(However), it is achievable, and we hope that we will get the support of everyone in the society to ensure that these pieces of legislation are enacted," Edwards said.

"We are not seeking to have tokenism, we are seeking to have complete participation. And we believe that at that level there are no issues, no areas of governance that do not impact on women and, therefore, we should not be making policy decisions that do not include the full participation of our women," she added.

The PNPWM, established in the 1970s, is said to have influenced far-reaching legislation, including those that decreed equal pay for women; the Maternity Leave Act, which forced employers to give pregnant women three months' leave, two of them with full pay; and the Status of Children Act (also called the 'Bastard' Act), which abolished the concept of illegitimate children born to unwed parents.

When the United Nations launched the International Year of Women, which represented a massive breakthrough for women, Beverly Anderson-Manley, who headed the group at the time, led a Jamaican delegation to the United Nation in 1975 to receive the adulation of many Third World women leaders. The group also played a critical role in the success of the PNP in elections from the 1970s to the early 1990s.

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PNP Women's Movement ready to work with new PM