Members of Red Thread and supporters including domestic violence victims and single parents yesterday issued loud calls to women Parliamentarians to be accountable to grassroots women by using the National Assembly as a forum to demand a livable income and raise other important issues.
A group of about 30 protestors including a handful of men stood outside Parliament Buildings and attempted to hand out leaflets to Parliamentarians as they passed.
Speaking to Stabroek News, Red Thread member Halima Khan said that while a few persons came by to acknowledge their cause most of the Parliamentarians closed the windows of their vehicles as they passed. She said “….they didn’t even want to watch us to take the leaflets. What are they telling us?” Khan who has been a member of the organisation since 1986 said that it seems like the Parliamentarians do not care about women particularly grass root women.
She said that the organisation would like to see women representing one third of the members of Parliament as only they will be able to adequately address issues affecting women.
“We are calling for them to be accountable, to tell us what they are doing”, she said noting that the period between the last parliament sitting and yesterday’s sitting was too long.
She opined that Parliamentarians need to be meeting more often so that serious issues can be discussed.
She also stressed that Parliamentarians need to consult with the grass root women more frequently to update them on what efforts are being made to improve their standard of living and to also discuss their needs.
The women’s activist noted that Old Age Pension and Public Assistance are front burner issues that need to be addressed.
She said that the picketing exercises will continue until results are seen.
The protestors left about an hour after Parliament was convened.
Red Thread said in the leaflet that their presence outside Parliament is their “main action” to mark International Women’s Day. “We organized it to coincide with the reconvening of Parliament after a break of one full month”, it said.
It was noted that in the three months since Parliament first convened, neither the government nor the opposition “has made an attempt to properly explain to grass-root women what they are doing”.
Red Thread said that while efforts are being made by the opposition to demand accountability and transparency from the government among other issues “we are outraged that they have not included among their priorities the issues fuelling the protests that have erupted among different sectors of all races – women, men and youth who are vendors, sugar workers, university students and lecturers and community residents, including women in Mahdia who held a march led by red Thread on International Women’s Day to demand access to the most basic facility of all, potable water”.
All these sections have been protesting for economic reasons.
It was noted that there are newspaper articles on various discussions on possible consultation between government and the opposition on the budget but nothing is being said about “whether and how all of them will consult with it”.
The leaflet raised the issue of inadequate public assistance pointing out that Red Thread is against the approach to economic development by all members of Parliament.
The organisation raised the issue of the conditions mothers, children and the elderly are forced to live under.
“As we launch our campaign for a living income, we are serving notice on women members of Parliament that we have had enough of their lack of accountability to women outside Parliament, especially grassroots women”, Red Thread said. In was noted that in the years members have been protesting outside Parliament, not one woman Parliamentarian has stopped to ascertain why they were there. “Instead they step into Parliament with their heads held high and if we don’t exist and to make matters worse when they get there, the majority of them say nothing”, Red Thread said.
