Minister of State Joseph Harmon has fended off a barrage of criticism over the gender and ethnic makeup of a number of state boards recently announced.
Among those objecting was the Executive Com-mittee of the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA), which referred to the composition as “an affront to women.” GHRA on Wednesday highlighted the disproportionate number of women represented in the membership of 20 out of the 32 named state boards.
GHRA, in a press statement, noted that only “three (9.4%) of the new Chairs of the thirty two (32) State Boards in the Finance Sector are females.” Further, GHRA said, although the government has only announced the full membership of 20 out of the 32 boards thus far, “only 18% are females which represents 22 persons out of a possible 125; and of that figure, one woman serves on three boards and another on two.”
According to the human rights body “all government functionaries responsible should feel ashamed.”
Harmon, however, disagreed with these assertions. In an interview with Stabroek News, he said that he believes the objections are both premature and unfair. “The criticism, in my view, is a little premature and unfair because if you look at some of the boards published, particularly in the agricultural sector, if you examine that you will recognise that it [the criticism] does not hold water ethnically and gender wise,’” Harmon said.
A number of human rights activists in a letter in today’s edition of Stabroek News referred to the appointments as a clear signal of “the true status of women in Guyana and how they are viewed by the present political directorate.”
These activists include individuals and representatives of organisations such as the Guyana Association of Women Lawyers, the Guyana Responsible Parenthood Association, ChildLink Inc., Red Thread Women’s Network, Help & Shelter, Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination, Grassroot Women Across Race and Citizens Against Rape.
Together, they reminded the new government of its obligations under the UN Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Guyana constitution to make provisions to ensure the right to non-discrimination based on gender as well as equal status with men for women in all spheres of political, economic and social life.
The activists said they refuse to “accept that women with the requisite skills and expertise could not be found to fill 50% of all recent political appointments to state boards and commissions” and therefore call on the ‘Govern-ment of Guyana to stop its discrimination against women and move immediately to equitable participation of women on all state boards and commissions and in all other areas.”
In a separate letter published in yesterday’s Stabroek News, women’s activist Andaiye asserted that Guyanese women are tired of “the patronage with which too many men in all parties speak of women as their “womenfolk,” the “backbone” of their parties/communities/ religious bodies, the reliable “foot soldiers” of their election campaigns but “almost never the brains.” She called for the new government to truly listen to the criticisms offered and respond by “apologising for and reversing [the] actions taken.”
She argued that the boards are composed of “mainly men who are mainly older, mainly middle class and mainly African-Guyanese.”
‘Sad’
Social activist Danuta Radzik referred to the appointments as both disappointing and illegal. “We don’t know if it was just an oversight but that is no excuse because aside from our constitution and our laws, which it contravenes, they have also signed on to an international agreement which says the state ought to guarantee the right not to be discriminated against based on gender. This is sad, especially in light of the fact that worldwide girls are outstripping boys in education in both the traditional and nontraditional sectors, a gap which widens at the tertiary level. No one can claim we don’t have qualified women,” she told Stabroek New yesterday.
Harmon defended his government’s action by noting that “the boards that have been published so far are about less than half of the boards that have to be published, the boards that have been published so far are boards in the agricultural and finance sector.”
The government has not explained how the boards were selected and if that involved a cabinet subcommittee comprising representatives of APNU, the AFC and other members of the coalition.
As stated by the GHRA, 22 persons out of a possible 125 on the finance sector boards are women, while 15 persons are still to be named by other agencies such as the ministries, the trade union movement and the private sector. The boards chaired by females include the VAT Appeal Tribunal, chaired by Tracey Gibson, and Atlan-tic Hotel Inc. (AHI), chair-ed by Beverley Harper.
The Guyana Rice Development Board, which comprises 13 persons, has only one female.
Meanwhile, in separate letters in Thursday’s edition of Stabroek News, civil society activists Clairmont Lye and Gordon Forte questioned the ethnic imbalance on the boards. Lye said that he couldn’t help noticing that 80% of the recently announced thirty-five chairs of state boards are filled by non-Indo-Guyanese.
“This development, preceded by the composition of the latest national awardees, makes one wonder as to the promise of inclusivity and promotion of racial unity,” he said.
Forte said it was pointed out to him that only seven of the 35 persons announced as chairs had Indian-sounding names.
He said, “Perceived discrimination on grounds of race seems more offensive to Guyanese than that on grounds of gender, ability or performance record. So I am dragged into a nasty arena, to say to the Cabinet…`Ow, man, look bad…look so bad….’”
