History this week – No. 39/2009
By Clyde W. Thierens
In the political development of Guyana, Winifred Gaskin stands out as an extraordinary example of an early Guyanese politician who displayed exemplary characteristics of patriotism, commitment to cause, pioneering zeal and strength of character. This two-part article outlines the major contributions of this remarkable woman who impacted the political arena of our country over the course of nearly three decades.
Winifred Ivy Gaskin was born Winifred Thierens on May 10, 1916 as the second of six children to Stanley and Irene Thierens of Buxton, East Coast Demerara. Her siblings were Sydney, Pat, Nello, Compton and Imelda. She attended St Anthony’s Catholic School in Buxton where her father was the headmaster. In addition to encouraging young Winifred to strive for excellence in her educational pursuits, her father also taught her that politics could be used as an important tool to bring about the development of people.
After completing primary school in Buxton, Winifred Gaskin next attended the St Joseph’s Sisters of Mercy Convent in Georgetown where her performance won her a middle school scholarship to the Bishops’ High School. At the Bishops’ High, her success at the Oxford and Cambridge Senior Certificate Examinations earned her an exemption from the Inter-Arts section of the Guiana Scholarship Examination, a feat that has been described as ‘rare’ during the colonial period.
Winifred Gaskin was the runner-up in the British Guiana Scholarship Examination and, instead of choosing to continue academic studies at this time, applied for a job in the postal service. Her employment sparked protests by some in the society who felt that certain jobs should be preserved for Europeans or ‘light-skinned’ people. Headmistress of the Bishops’ High School at the time – Ms Emily Baskett – pointed out that her former student was fully qualified for the position on the grounds of her scholastic achievement. The protest against Winifred Gaskin was waged on the grounds that she was not only Black, but that she was also a woman. During this period of controversy Winifred Gaskin’s courage and strength of character came to the attention of the public.
Winifred Gaskin taught at the St Mary’s Roman Catholic School in Georgetown for a short while before taking up employment in the District Commissioner’s office at Enmore. Her civil service career ended when she got married to Berkley Gaskin – a West Indian test cricketer – in 1939. She went back into teaching and taught at her old school, the St Joseph’s Sisters of Mercy Convent.
In the light of the exploitation and disenfranchisement of women in the early 1940s, Winifred Gaskin believed that the situation of women could only be improved by fundamental social and political changes. She devoted herself to the struggle to help bring about these changes by uniting with others who shared similar goals. She became a member of the British Guiana Women League of Social Services. This body was established in 1940 to harmonise the activities of women’s organisations which focused on the development of women in both traditional and non-traditional areas.
Although she had worked in the Civil Service and in Education, her passion was for journalism. In her attempt to pursue a career in this field, she joined the Bureau of Public Information as a script writer in 1944. While there she worked with individuals such as A J Seymour, Lucy Gordon, R L Young, Celeste Dolphin, Patty Gomes, Evan Drayton, Hilton Harewood and other stalwarts in the field.
The reduction of the franchise requirements in 1945, along with the opening up of membership of the Legislature to women, served to stimulate greater efforts for change by Ms Gaskin and her colleagues. Winifred Gaskin utilized her journalistic skills to address this issue and, on June 30, 1946, she wrote a letter in the Chronicle newspaper urging women not to be satisfied with what they had achieved up to that point but to join forces across all social sectors to agitate for further social and political changes. She described the franchise granted to women as a gift which was not the answer to what she called ‘slumdom’. She demonstrated her belief in the power of politics by suggesting that women should form a political party that would present a platform before the Legislative Council.
With the aim of achieving further political and social gains for women, Winifred Gaskin joined with other progressive politically-minded women such as Janet Jagan, Frances Stafford, Jessica Huntley, and others, in July 1946, to form the first female political body in the country known as the Women’s Political and Economic Organisation (WPEO). With Janet Jagan as the president and Winifred Gaskin as the secretary, the WPEO set out to improve the lot of Guyanese women through education and political mobilisation. In this organisation Winifred Gaskin pursued her duties with vigour, decisiveness and intelligence. She was noted for speaking with clarity on issues and her work was highly respected.
The WPEO has been recognized for its work in mobilizing the women of Guyana and raising the level of their political awareness at a time when women were not noticeably active in the political activities. The organization systematically fought for the removal of restrictions against women in the political arena. Women were also encouraged to empower themselves by improving their educational level and the level of their occupational skills. One of the major successes of the organisation was its investigation of a housing project being undertaken in Wortmanville by the Georgetown Town Council and the British Guiana Government. The WPEO was able to point out a number of very serious defects in the project and its recommendations for improvement were accepted and implemented.
The WPEO also sought an extension of the municipal franchise to include working class tenants and urged eligible women to register so that they could participate in the 1947 Legislative Council elections. Winifred Gaskin played a significant role in the activities of the organisation as it succeeded in bringing the issue of the equality of women to the fore at a time when such an idea was considered foreign.
Winifred Gaskin was as passionate about the issue of women’s empowerment as she was about the political empowerment of the Guyanese people in general. It was therefore only natural that she became involved with the Political Affairs Committee that was formed in November 1946. As a speaker in the PAC she encouraged not only women, but all Guyanese, to become actively engaged in politics.
Winifred Gaskin became a member of the People’s Progressive Party when it was formed in 1953. However, she was out of the country during the momentous 1953 elections which the PPP won. Despite her absence, her contribution to the introduction of universal adult suffrage must be noted because this was probably the single most influential factor in ensuring the triumph of the PPP at these historical elections.
It was during early 1953 that Winifred Gaskin left British Guiana on a British Council scholarship for study attachment with the Daily Express and the London Times newspapers in England. Here again Ms Gaskin broke new ground as the London Times during that period did not employ women- much less Black ones.
While studying in England she still managed to perform valuable service for her country by working with fellow Guyanese Frank Pilgrim, Peter Kempadoo and John Rowe to facilitate the visit by Cheddi Jagan and Forbes Burnham to protest the suspension of the British Guiana Constitution before the British House of Commons.
On her return to British Guiana in 1955, Winifred Gaskin parted company with the Argosy Newspapers because of divergent views. She then joined the Booker News as sub-editor. Her career as a journalist was one of distinction. She earned the respect and admiration of those who worked with her as she served with excellence in various positions. These included serving as Secretary to the Editor and then as Features Editor of the Argosy Newspaper, Deputy Editor and Editor of Booker News and then President of the British Guiana Press Association. As a journalist she was described as being forthright in her criticism of situations she felt merited criticism. Her writings consistently outlined her views on the direction the country should be heading in and her leading articles were always thought provoking.
When the PPP split in 1955 Winifred Gaskin sided with the Burnhamite faction. She contested the 1957 elections against Peter D’Aguiar for the Central Georgetown Constituency but she lost after a bitter battle. In a display of tenacity she contested the results but was unsuccessful. However, she won some amount of admiration for her strength and determination.
With the formation of the People’s National Congress in October 1957, Winifred Gaskin became one of the party’s founder-members. She, along with Jane Phillips-Gay and Hyacinth Godette, also spearheaded the formation of the PNC Women’s Auxiliary which was the party’s women’s arm. At the launching of the PNCWA Winifred Gaskin presented a paper on “The Role of Women in Politics” in which she outlined the way forward for the politically conscious female member of the party. She worked tirelessly for the PNCWA as an organizer, teacher and speaker. She was instrumental in the establishment of branches of both the party, and its women’s arm, throughout the country.
The importance of her work in the PNCWA was summarized by the PNC’s General Secretary at the time, Dr Ptolemy Reid, who stated that she had “intellectualized and articulated the revolutionary vision which …blossomed forth into the WRSM”.
Winifred Gaskin proved time and again that she was a trail blazer. As a woman politician, she consistently defied the odds that were obviously stacked against her in the environment of a colonial male dominated society that was in the process of political awakening. She was forced to surmount numerous hurdles in order to make her mark.
She aptly summarized the considerable socio-cultural obstacles that she confronted as a female politician by stating:
In those days, women who participated in politics lost caste, they were almost outlawed from society, and so the mandate given us to secure the greater involvement of women in politics was in effect a summons to revolutionise the prevailing mental attitudes.
An example of her ability to break new ground was her election to the office of Chairman of the PNC – the first woman to hold this important party position. As party Chairman she focused on training and development of the youths even as she sought to expand the party and develop the talents of its members. Her ascendancy to the chairmanship of the organisation inspired female party members to aspire to become more than workers and campaigners and to seek higher positions. As party Chairman she was the only woman on the team that went to London for Independence talks in 1962.
With the loss of the PNC in the 1961 elections, Ms Gaskin resolved to work harder to politically mobilize and inform Guyanese men and women in all sectors of society. Between 1961 and 1964 she devoted herself to increasing the number of party groups across the country in preparation for elections.
The PNC was seen as facing major challenges as a result of its lack of professional, full time paid workers to effectively mobilize membership in areas outside of Georgetown. It was in this context that Winifred Gaskin was described as a tireless worker who travelled under the roughest conditions, often crossing rivers during the night, doing the foot slogging work required for party building.