“I’m still waiting for the time when we have a woman Commissioner of Police and a woman Chief of Staff of the army,” First Lady Sandra Granger said to resounding applause as she delivered the feature address at the second annual Women of Mission International (WOMI) conference at the Egbert Benjamin Centre, Linden, on Friday.
The First Lady was the last of six in a panel of presenters at the one-day exercise, which attracted over one hundred women from all stations in life and from various parts of the country. Referring to the WOMI mission statement of providing education, health and support services to women, who are in disadvantaged positions due to poverty, homelessness, HIV/AIDS and domestic violence, the First Lady said she could do nothing but accept the invitation to speak at the conference after she had read about the commitment of WOMI.
Introduced as an educator, who lectured at the University of Guyana in modern languages for many years, and a mother, grandmother and wife of forty five years – the First Lady jocularly disclosed that she is from a family of eight children in which she was number three and was always getting squeezed.
Mrs Granger, who also worked at the CARICOM Secretariat for several years, said as she contemplated keeping the thrust of her address in tune with the theme of this year’s WOMI empowerment conference for women: ‘Knowing Your Purpose’, she thought of the situation of women in Guyana, specifically in Linden and she was struck by the many and diverse roles, often unsung, that women play in the lives of their families, communities and the nation.
“I thought of the three Linden Martyrs, whose lives were brutally cut short not so long ago and whose mothers, children and relatives have been left to grieve and continue their lives without their support and their comfort. I thought of the thirteen women in Guyana, who were murdered by their husbands, or boyfriends, or lovers in 2014. Twelve of those women were under thirty years of age. Four of them had not celebrated their nineteenth birthday.”
Stressing that it is important to her “that we remember these people,” the First Lady pointed out that the four teenaged fatal victims of domestic violence “had their lives snuffed out before they could even find out what their purpose in life could be”.
Mrs. Granger said that she thought of the situation of young women, who are trafficked, or lured into mining areas with promises of a job only to find themselves being made prostitutes. “I thought of the adolescent mothers, who are condemned to poverty because they had been forced to drop out of school to deliver their babies and then condemned to menial jobs as low wage earners because they do not have an education and our system is not geared to bring them back and integrate them into the education system and they are often exploited by their bosses – male and female, I would say.”
She also expressed concern for young girls, who drop out of school to take care of younger siblings while their mothers go to work. Pointing to girls, who complete primary school without knowing to read or write, she declared that it is a crime and she wondered aloud how these girls and women are made to feel that their lives lack value and purpose.
“With education, we know who we are, what we can do. We ought to know and value ourselves. If I can make sugarcake … I can set up a business … and become an independent woman,” Mrs. Granger said as she disclosed that she is playing around with an idea of empowering women and children. According to her, she visited Lusignan and in discussion with women there, she asked what skills they have and all the women claimed that they did not have any skill. But a little girl blurted out that her mother makes the best chicken-foot. Another woman said that she does not have time for anything because she looks after her mother. Noting that another woman said that she sells produce by the roadside that she plants and reaps in her back yard, the First Lady said they all have a skill and organizations such as WOMI can play an important role in helping women to identify their skills.
According to her, women are in a powerful position because they comprise over fifty per cent of the Guyana population. She said over 259 women are miners, owning dredges. The First Lady also pointed out that women make up thirty one percent of the self-employed people in Guyana and are in the majority teaching and administrating in the education sector. “They are judges and magistrates and permanent secretaries, directors and chief executive officers,” she added.
After participating in the four-hour conference, the First Lady and an entourage, which included Sandra Adams, Assistant National Director of Community Development along with members of parliament Jermaine Figueira and Valerie Patterson visited Block 22 where the First Lady met with represents of that community to hear their concerns and took a guided tour on foot to personally experience the bad roads and see at first hand the residents’ need for a bridge to link their community with neighbouring Canvas City.
