News from the Turks and Caicos Islands for
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Commentary: Celebrating the birth of the 'Women's Movement' in the Turks and Caicos - Part 1
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| Published on Monday, October 12, 2009 |
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By Candy Herwin
In jolly old England, back in the 70s, we often demonstrated over women’s rights and equal opportunity in the workforce and education. Empowerment of women and women’s issues such as legal abortion, free contraceptives, equal opportunities and one job-one pay created heated discussion groups. The Women’s Desk worked like a charm and we burned our bras in the freedom trash can.
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| Candy Herwin has lived in the Turks and Caicos Islands for 17 years and runs a guesthouse on Salt Cay called "Pirates Hideaway". She was formerly a reporter for Radio One in Beirut, Lebanon, but now prefers the quiet life in Salt Cay |
Here in the Turks and Caicos Islands, though, the Movement for the Empowerment of Women really began in 1994 when all the Caribbean countries were called to prepare a report on the status of women throughout the region in preparation for the Fourth World Conference on Women which was held in Beijing, China, in September 1995.
Thirteen enthusiastic women from the Turks and Caicos and spearheaded by the president of the group, Ms Myrtle Mills, were the founding members of ‘Women in Development.’
They dispatched around the islands, collecting valuable information and interviewing women, and in their final report concluded that women’s human rights were being violated and that there was no specific agency in place that could sympathise and help with women-related issues particularly pertaining to domestic violence and child abuse.
Hon. Mahala Wynns, another exceptional woman, attended the forum in Beijing along with Cheryl Astwood Tull and remarked that the meetings were an eye opener and emphasised how many women around the world were suffering from abuse, gender discrimination and unequal opportunities in the work force.
Ms Wynns felt that it was important in the Turks and Caicos to establish a Woman’s Desk that could facilitate the education of women and to give them support and encouragement in a historically male dominated society, which even today is still prevalent throughout the Caribbean.
This enthusiastic group of hard working women with their research findings in hand, began to pressure and push for the introduction of the first Women’s Desk. Finally, in 1999, the birth of the Women’s Desk was created and fell under the portfolio of the Ministry of Health.
The goal of the Women’s Desk was to see equal opportunities across the board and policies in place that would allow a fair and just recognition of woman and her status as a viable and economic force within the community.
It became a launch pad for women to air their views and to deal with specific women’s issues from a woman’s perspective. A few years later it evolved into the Gender Desk, which widened the scope to include gender specific problems and with a more family orientated focus.
However, whether a Gender Desk or a Women’s Affairs Desk, the goals were ultimately the same… to serve as a constructive forum for “capacity building” and to “strengthen local groups and individuals to design and carry out effective strategies that would enhance the status of women from a legal, economic, political and social perspective”.
The overwhelming responsibility of the Gender Desk fell upon the shoulders of Ms Rita Gardener to organise the department, initiate plans and strengthen partnerships with the emerging women’s groups and government departments both on a national and international level.
A decade later, and after many difficult strides toward the empowerment of women and children, the Turks and Caicos is celebrating this month ‘The Tenth Year Anniversary of the Gender Affairs Unit.’
This important event highlights some of the major achievements that have been accomplished over the years.
“One of the Gender Desks top priorities,” said Director Ms Rita Gardener, “is still the empowerment of women and children, especially teenage mothers. We encourage and help them to go back to school so they can continue with their education which under the United Nations Convention is the right of the child regardless of their circumstance.”
For the last five or six years, the Gender Affairs Unit has been working closely with the NGOs and is now in the final stages of introducing Family law and Domestic Violence Reform, which covers children’s rights, adoption and sexual abuse matters.
Vocational programs have been set up to teach parenting skills, etiquette, cosmetology, hospitality trades and computer skills.
The young men are taught tiling, masonry and carpentry. There are also adult literacy programs and workshops on how to improve low self esteem. All these extra activities help empower our young girls and boys to be the best and become productive members of the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Another excellent achievement is that the police force is working closely with the gender affairs Unit and has identified Ms Irene Butterfield as the police officer who will head the Domestic Violence Unit and be directly responsible for gender issues. She is away on training at the moment and we wish her well in her new and challenging position.
It is a week for thanking everyone behind the scenes who are advocates for women and child protection and reforms in Family Law. We must congratulate Rita Gardener, Director of the Gender Affairs Unit, and to the wonderful Clara Bell Garland and Barbara Henfield for all their hard work and dedication.
Equally important are the courageous women who step forward as victims of abuse.
One amazing woman that must be mentioned this week is Jacqueline Warrican from West Rd, Grand Turk, who hands over her role as president of NGO to Ms Mavis Williams.
 Ms Warrican, a retired policewoman, has helped abused women for decades. Back in the 1980s she remembers how difficult it was helping victims as one of the few women employed in the police force. “Quite often,” she said, “perpetrators of abuse would argue that they were exercising disciplinary measures on their wives or children.” The situation was very fragile, as abuse was a silent problem and existing laws were rarely enforced. It took many years to build confidence with the victims as they were often too afraid to come forward.
However, Ms Warrican brought her knowledge and skills in the law to help the many victims and understood the gaps in family policies, particularly pertaining to domestic violence and child abuse. She even took three children under her wing that today she is proud to say are successful business women. “It only goes to show that with love and dedication you can turn a child’s life around for the better and even though I have retired I will always be there to encourage and help people and I will always be a life long care giver,” she said.
Ms Warrican reflected on the days visiting the family islands and the tremendous help and flexibility in her duties towards victims of abuse that was given to her by the then Superintendent of the Provo Police Force, Mr Michael Taylor. As parting words, Ms Warricom said she was very proud of all the men and women she has worked with over the years, congratulated Ms Mavis Williams in her new position as president and praised and encouraged them for their life changing work for young men and women in the community.
Historically, women in the Turks and Caicos Islands have always been central to production. They worked the sisal, cotton and farming co-ops, harvesting and planting. When cash crops and salt were less economically viable, more pressure was put on the women to hold the family unit together. Men were obliged to work on the ships and were away for many months at a time. Women kept families afloat during these tough times. In a sense women were like superglue. They kept family and community life ticking. They were healers, midwives and predominantly teachers that taught values and discipline.
Even so, the intricate inter-relationships that governed urban and rural dwelling, religious beliefs and laws, held women back and kept men in key positions.
Women are where we are today because we are the only ‘gender’ that can bear children. Consequently we became the traditional caretakers of the young, old, sick and infirm.
Men on the other hand have historically been our protectors and held the dominant position of leaders in the church, leaders in the political arena and head of the household.
Changing cultural and social attitudes is going to take some time although, saying this, the recent moves by the House of Assembly to implement Family Law Reform is a positive step forward and will allow the doors for related policies to be implemented.
It is very noticeable here in the Turks and Caicos that women still have to juggle raising a family with a desire to gain equal opportunities in the work place and education. It is therefore important that the Ministry of Education tighten its relationship through creative networking with the Gender Affairs Unit.
Women need to be educated from an early age to have a greater sense of self worth. In fact, the National Youth Ambassador Larisa Rivera and her team must be praised for their self esteem building workshops called “The Power of Me”. This kind of programme goes along way in educating the youth and many more initiatives of this nature should be introduced on every island.
Many young girls for example need to be made fully aware of the pitfalls of teenage pregnancy and unprotected sex, since any choices they make now will affect their futures with a much greater impact than those of their male counterparts.
Certainly there needs to be revised legislation, careful planning and a hefty budget provided for more nurseries, childcare centers and homecare agencies on all islands.
This will alleviate some of the burdens of raising children and allow women a greater freedom to make choices while preserving the family structure.
According to the statistics desk in Grand Turk, women make up more than half of the population. Imagine where the Turk and Caicos could be, a few years down the road if the full potential of women was utilised on all levels.
As a last thought, perhaps we need a full-fledged Ministry of Gender Affairs with a substantial budget that can facilitate efficient management of all women, men and child related issues under one portfolio. This may be challenging but the long term social and economic rewards to the Turks and Caicos would be impressive! | | | | Reads : 489 |
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