…Gender equality record ‘very mixed’ worldwide – Ramotar
Two prominent men in the PPP/C and in Government, Prime Minister Sam Hinds and parliamentarian and PPP General-Secretary Donald Ramotar, have made sterling presentations supporting the rights of women and gender equality and celebrating the achievements of women both in Guyana and worldwide.
They spoke at the PPP’s forum held on Tuesday to mark International Women’s Day at Freedom House on Robb Street. “For myself, I have more the feeling that the women in Guyana have been always alongside our men in the various struggles in the trade union movement, in the political movement. I have the feeling that women have been contributing as equal partners alongside the men,” said Hinds.
“Indeed one of the names that go back with me…a long time ago, along with Cheddi and Janet, is that of the fireball, Philomena Sahoye-Shury,” he said.
Adding that things have been a bit different for Guyana compared to other countries, the Prime Minister said that for us in Guyana are maybe some of the more traditional issues concerning relations between men and women where there is no doubt that traditional cultures and traditional religions all over the world give the dominant positions to men.
He spoke of his grandfather, a parson, always meeting with older women whose husbands drank often and created problems, trying to console them and encouraging them to stay in the marriage for the sake of the vows taken.
“A lot of our history of people being married for a lifetime… in the past, when I was young in the 1950s and 60s, to the extent that it was true, it was true based on the sufferings of our women. These days we shouldn’t ask it of our women to bear the price for a good family relationship and I don’t think the women of these days are prepared to pay the price,” he said.
“I think that when we read the newspapers everyday and we see all those reports of our men brutalising our women, and[in] instances killing our women, we must think about how we could get about a better relationship. I believe that I am old enough and old fashioned enough to believe that men and women are two halves of a whole, and the relationship between the man and a woman should be a greater relationship than any other this side of heaven,” he said.
“To me, the concern has been, more and more, how can we bring about better relationships between our men and our women. There seems to be some bit of credibility in a contention or debate that to some extent, with the advances that women have been making over the last 200 years and changes in the historical relationship between men and women, we need to come up with some new basis for relationships,” the Prime Minister said.
“I want to encourage our ladies, whilst we will always insist that our laws are upheld and that the full force of the law is taken to any man who violates our law and is violent to women and children, we have to give some thought about the new role and new relationships and ways to make men and women relate,” he said.
The Prime Minister spoke of the fact that from primary level to degree level, the ratio of women who are graduating is steadily greater than that of the men. He said this creates a very difficult social situation for females and for society.
“We have faced challenges like this in the past, and I have no doubt that we will overcome those challenges in the future,” the Prime Minister concluded.
Speaking at the event, General Secretary of the PPP Donald Ramotar said, “This is a special day.”
“It is a special women’s day, not only International Women’s Day, but the centenary anniversary of International Women’s Day.  I would like first of all to congratulate all of you that are here, to congratulate the Guyanese women and also women everywhere,” he said.
“The origins of this day are closely associated with the struggles of the working-class movement and the struggles of the socialist movement for democracy and for freedom,” he said.
Speaking of the origins of the day, Ramotar said that the inequalities of that time, as it is today, were used fundamentally as an economic tool to gain super profits for some companies. They were used to keep wages and salaries down and that was part of the economic reasons for the struggle for the equality of women.
“On this 100th year anniversary, I believe, all over the world, women, academics[and] others, will be taking time off to make an assessment of how far we have gone and I think that the record is very mixed when we look at the world as a whole,” he said.
“There are many, many countries where they have gone quite a far way, where they have almost reached equality in many things and in some others they even have superiority. In our own country, in the Caribbean and even further afield, one of the things that is being noted now is that there may very well be need for an international men’s day to solve some of the problems of the men,” he said.
However, he said that there are many other countries where women are still terribly exploited. He spoke of a situation in some parts of India where women have been labouring ‘like slaves’ to pay off the debts of their foreparents.
“Poverty in many parts of the world, including on our own continent, South America, has grounded many to a terrible life of misery,” he said. “But while we look at that, we must also look at the struggles women have carried out and have distinguished themselves alongside men fighting for freedom,” he said.
“We cannot have double standards when it comes to women’s rights,” said Ramotar. “We cannot have double standards, and we must be on the side of women’s rights and human rights,” he said.