Introduction
In the previous article the extent of participation by women in the general elections from 1947 to 1968 was examined against the background of our ratification of several United Nations conventions. Starting with one woman in the 1947 general elections which was contested under very restrictive franchise, the numbers of women on the list of political parties contesting elections has increased. However, this did not translate into parity in terms of cabinet or other important government positions. In this article, the quantity and quality of women’s participation in general elections from 1973 will be examined against the background of significant constitutional and ideological changes nationally and internationally, the beginning of the UN Decade for women and other conferences and conventions which impacted on the status of women.
General Elections from
1973 through to 1985
There were several important events which occurred several years prior to and following the 1973 general elections. On February 23, 1970, Guyana became a republic under the rubric of “Cooperative Socialism”. This ideological shift to socialism combined with the system of Proportional Representation should have ensured an adequate representation of women not only on the lists of candidates but also in Parliament. However, electors now had to vote for a list of candidates and so could no longer monitor the performance of or demand accountability from their individual parliamentary representatives.
Four political parties contested the elections and all fielded the full 53 candidates. 9 (16.9%) of the incumbent PNC’s list were women, 1 (1.8%) of the main opposition PPP, 15(28.3%) of the People’s Demo-cratic Movement (PDM), 10 (19.9%) of the Liberator Party [this party briefly replaced the United Force]. As a result of the July 16, 1973 general elections, the incumbent PNC gained the coveted two thirds majority – 37 seats, the PPP 14 seats, the Liberator Party 2 seats and the party – PDM – which had the largest number of women on its list did not win a seat. This result was an indication not only of the firm hold the leading political parties had on the psyche of Guyanese voters but cynics would also add, that it was precisely because its chances of winning any seats were so remote that it could afford to be generous and have so many women, mainly housewives, on its list because they would not be called upon to deliver.
In the third Parliament, the PNC government had 49 members. None of the 7 senior ministers were women. Of the 5 ministers, there were two women – Shirley Field-Ridley and C. M. Baird. They were given the traditional “feminine” portfolios – Information and Culture and Education respectively. There were no women among the 9 Ministers of State. One, Margaret Ackman of the 8 Parliamentary Secretaries was a woman. Only 5 of the other 18 members were women. Neither of the two MP’s of the Liberator Party was a woman. When, after boycotting Parliament for three years, the PPP took up its seats, May 1976, only one (7.1%) of its MP’s, Mrs. Janet Jagan was a woman. Compared with 1968, in 1973 with four parties again contesting the elections, there was an increase in the number of women on the lists by 33% from 26 to 35. The ruling Party increased its numbers of MP’s while that of the main opposition PPP decreased from two to one.
Two years after the general elections, in 1975, the UN launched its decade for women. The necessity for such an event was a testimony to how far women had not come. This was the beginning of a series of activities by which women, by their persistence, forced the issue of the minuscule political participation of women unto the front burner. Interestingly enough, that same year, in his address to the First Biennial Congress of the PNC, the Leader, Forbes Burnham stated that one of his party’s objectives was “to provide every Guyanese with the opportunity to work for and share in the economic well-being of the country and to ensure that there was equality of opportunity in the political, economic and social life of the country.” At least in the context of the PNC that proved to be hollow words. When he died in August 1985, the position of women in the decision making hierarchy of the PNC remained the same as in 1975 and thereafter, they continued to lose ground. However, the number of women in Parliament moved from 19.6% after the 1980 general elections to 22.2% after the 1985 general elections held several months after his death.
One of the most important conventions regarding the political rights of women was signed in 1979 – the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). It urged states to put women’s political rights on equal footing with men’s and to give women equal opportunity to serve in public life. 1980 also saw the launching of the Mid Decade Plan of Action. Nationally, the year was also significant with respect to improving the status of Guyanese women. Article 29(1) of the 1980 People’s Constitution stated that women and men have equal rights and the same legal status in all spheres of political, economic and social life and that all forms of discrimination on the basis of their sex are illegal. It was under the auspices of these lofty principles that general and regional elections were held, December 15, 1980.
Under the new constitutional arrangements, there were now to be 65 seats, 53 from general elections, 2 from the National Congress of Local Democratic Organs and 10 from the Regional Democratic Councils, one from each of the 10 regions into which the country was now divided. The incumbent PNC again obtained a two thirds majority – 53 seats, the PPP received 10 and the UF received 2.1n the National Assembly of the Fourth Parliament, none of the 10 Senior Ministers was a woman. Of the 13 ministers, 3 (23%) were women – Urmia Johnson, Coopera-tives, Jean Maitland-Singh, Consu-mer Protection in the Ministry of Trade and Consumer Protection and Yvonne Harewood-Benn, Public Service. There were no women among the three Ministers of State. All 3(100%) of the Parliamentary Secretaries were women – Agnes Bend Kirton, Women’s Affairs and Housing, Philomena Rayman and Edith Myrtle Bynoe, Office of the Prime Minister. Again, these cabinet positions extended little beyond the “private space” to which traditional patriarchal society relegated women. Of the other 23 members of the PNC only 2 (8.5%) were women. Of the 10 PPP members, only one (10%) again, Mrs. Jagan was a woman. Neither of the United Force members was a women. In the regional elections, women fared little better. In 1981 a paltry 21% of the 250 regional councillors were women.
The next general elections were held in 1985, a year of great significance in respect of conventions on the status of women. It was the end of the UN Decade for women culminating in the promulgation of the Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies which, it was hoped would help to increase the empowerment of women in all spheres. It must be noted that Guyana had a strong presence at this and other conferences, especially from women of the PNC’S Women’s Revolutionary Socialist Movement. Undoubtedly, this activity impacted the number of women selected by the party for the list and to be MP’s. As a result of the elections of December 9, 1985, the incumbent PNC retained its two thirds majority with 54 seats, the PPP had 8 seats, the UF had 2 seats and the new Working People’s Alliance (WPA) had one seat. It resulted in the highest percentage of women (22.2 %) to sit in Parliament.
In the National Assembly of the Fifth Parliament the members of the PNC government was vulgarly bloated to 61. There were now 5 Deputy Prime Ministers and three Vice Presidents. Only one, Mrs. Viola Burnham, wife of the late Executive President was a woman. She was predictably given the eminently feminine portfolio of Education and Social Development. Of the 7 Senior Ministers only one (14%), Ms. Yvonne V. Harewood-Benn, Minister of Information and Public Service was
a woman. Of the four other Ministers, there was one woman, Ms. Urmia Johnson, Minister within the Ministry of National Mobilisation. There was one (25%) woman, Dr. Faith Harding among the four Ministers of State. She held the Portfolio of Minister of State within the Ministry of Planning and Development. The Chief Government Whip was a woman, Ms. Jennifer Ferreira. Two of the three Parliamentary Secreta-ries, Ms. Stella Odie-Ali and Jean Persico were women. Of the other 24 PNC members, 10(41.6%) were women. Only one of the minority PPP members, Mrs. Janet Jagan was a woman. Both of the UF members and the single WPA member were men.
The practice, since the 1973 general elections of appointing non-elected members to cabinet positions significantly eroded the position of the general elections as a pathway to power and decision making for women. This was further exacerbated by the fact that the relatively unimportant ministerial positions allocated to women, made it impossible for them to wield any real power.
The concluding article will examine the last two elections of the 20th century and the first two of the 21st century.
