The Women’s Progressive Organisation (WPO), the largest women’s mass movement in Guyana on May 27 observed its 57th anniversary and it has much to celebrate because it has a rich history of championing the rights of women and struggling for better living and working conditions for them.
Its forerunner was the Women’s Political and Economic Organisation (WPEO) in 1946 with the founding members being Mrs. Janet Jagan, Winifred Gaskin and Frances Stafford.
The formation of the WPO was a logical outcome of the struggle that was initiated by its parent party – the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) – and from the days of those founding members, who worked tirelessly for the cause of women, this dynamic women’s movement continued to produce a host of outstanding leaders, many of them also became outstanding leaders of the PPP. The list is a very long one and cannot be reproduced here but a few of them include, Philomena Sahoye-Shury popularly known as “Fireball” because of her fiery speeches, the revered heroine Kowsilla, Christina Ramjattan , Shirley Edwards, Gail Teixeira, Indra Chandarpal, etc.
According to the PPP: “The Party recognised the role women had to play in the country’s development, and undertook the task of setting up the WPO as the women section of the Party. Today, the membership spans all the ten regions of Guyana and across the ethnic divide.”
“The Central Committee acknowledges the tremendous role played by its founder member and President, the late Janet Jagan, who provided yeoman services to the people of Guyana, through her involvement in raising the awareness of the oppressed and downtrodden people, especially women.
‘The organisation acknowledges the support by the Party and its leadership for nurturing and providing opportunities for women to grow and participate in various decision making bodies of the Party’s hierarchy.
“The organisation would like to thank the thousands of members who had given and are continuing to give valuable voluntary service to communities across the country over these 57 years.
“It is also grateful to all the women groups for their support and collaboration over the years and pledges to work even closer for the advancement of women.
“Throughout our existence, the WPO has championed a wide range of issues for the improvement of the status and conditions of Guyanese women. We take pride in the many gains over these years and look forward to continued successes in our efforts.

When this wonderful organisation was formed it immediately went on a relentless and persistent campaign to educate women and raise their political consciousness and aggressively fought for equality, equal pay for equal work, eradication of domestic violence and abuse of women and a general improvement in the working and living conditions for women.
One would recall the valiant fight it waged for women who were being grossly underpaid at the then National Restaurant in the 1970s as well as the women who were dismissed by Lysons Industries when they agitated for better wages and working conditions. These are just two of the memorable examples of the militant struggle waged by the WPO over the years.
In the early years of the independence and anti-colonial struggle the WPO, in tandem with its parent party the PPP and its youth arm the Progressive Youth Organisation (PYO), helped to advance that struggle by galvanizing and mobilising the women folk across the length and breadth of Guyana. Those who were around at that time will recall that women came out in large numbers at political meetings, rallies and marches, etc.
During the post independence struggle which was largely characterised by the fight for free and fair elections and a return to democracy, the WPO continued its militancy and played a major role in Guyana returning to democracy and having free and fair elections back into our political landscape.
Today the WPO continues to champion the rights of women and is playing an active role in tackling issues affecting women.