IN December 1942, Janet Rosenberg, aged 22, while working as a student nurse at Cook County Hospital, met Cheddi Jagan, an Indo-Guyanese dentistry student at Northwestern University. They married on August 5, 1943, and in December that year she moved with him to Guyana, where he set up his dental practice, with her as his nursing assistant. This union precipitated a crusade for human and women’s rights in then British Guiana.

One cannot speak about women empowerment in Guyana without recognising the valiant struggles of our female freedom fighters, foremost of whom was former President, late Mrs. Janet Jagan.

Dharamkumar Seeraj, M.P. and General-Secretary of the Guyana Rice Producers’ Association, posited:
“If married women can today work in public institutions, we have to thank Janet Jagan; if Guyana’s women have a voice against abuse – in all its myriad forms, we have to thank Janet Jagan; if women can vote today, we have to thank Janet Jagan; if women can stand today in equal partnership with male counterparts in the highest law-making and policy-making forum in the land – the Legislative Assembly, we have to thank Janet Jagan.”

Before their advent into politics in then British Guyana, local women were treated as less than their dogs by the Colonial overlords. Women could not work in Public Service after marriage and they certainly could not vote: But she took part in labor activism, along with her husband, and joined the British Guiana Labor Union, simultaneously working in her husband’s dental clinic as a nurse for 10 years. In 1946, she founded the Women’s Political and Economic Organisation (WPEO), forerunner of the Women’s Progressive Organisation (WPO); and co-founded the Political Affairs Committee (PAC), forerunner of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), which heralded a dynamic struggle for human and women’s rights.

Over the years, she was joined by intrepid women such as Mrs. Shirley Edwards, Mrs. Philomena (Fireball) Shury, President Ali’s grandmother, Mrs. Sakina Mohamed, Indra Chanderpal and countless others.
And who can forget the heroic martyr, Kowsilla?

A humble housewife and an active member of the Women’s Progressive Organisation (WPO). On March 06, 1964, outside the Leonora factory gate, Kowsilla squatted with striking sugar workers who were protesting against their being denied work, and at the same time highlighting their call for the recognition of GAWU.

The then General Manager of the Estate instructed a “scab”, who was driving a tractor at the time, to drive over the bridge where the workers were squatting. He did so, in the process running over the striking workers, thereby causing Kowsilla’s death and serious injury to 14 others.

Her death and the sacrifice of the others did not go in vain, for that tragedy catalysed eventual recognition of GAWU as the bargaining union for sugar workers and heralded many human rights changes in the sugar industry.
Over time women were permitted greater freedoms in the socio-political dynamics of the nation; and today women proliferate in leadership roles in every sphere of activity in the nation.

Yet there are still great numbers of women with leadership skills and business acumen who are constrained by diverse circumstances from optimising their potential for wealth and job creation.

Under the administration of the former President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, Guyana’s Ministry of Social Protection, in collaboration with the Guyana Bank of Trade and Industry (GBTI), launched the “Women of Worth” (WOW) loan programme, which helped single parent women start and/or expand their businesses. This initiative was driven by then subject minister, Priya Manickchand.

With loans provided by GBTI, the initiative catered for single parent women, helping them access funding for their small businesses. Business ventures supported by GOG/GBTI’s Women of Worth programme included hairdressing, fabric design, floral arranging, dress making, childcare, craft and novelty making, and poultry rearing.

The programme’s main aim was to provide low-interest loans to single parents women who wanted to establish, upgrade, or expand a small business. This was accomplished by providing the funding women entrepreneurs and potential businesswomen needed to start and grow their ventures, consequently empowering themselves through enhancing their income-generation and solidifying their livelihoods.

Through initiatives like Women of Worth, government, in partnership with institutions like GBTI, has proven that providing enabling mechanisms can make a tangible impact on the lives of vulnerable women and, consequently, their children. By removing financial obstacles, the partnership with GBTI helped women realise their true potential through building businesses. Through the WOW initiative, women used their acumen to grow local communities, build wealth, and ultimately contributed to making Guyana better as a whole.

Recently, the Critchlow Labour College, in collaboration with the Mitsubishi Corporation, launched its strengthening micro-entrepreneurship training programme for disadvantaged women and youth in Region Four.

Principal of Critchlow Labour College, Ivor B. English, in his address at the launch held in the college’s boardroom, said: “We believe in empowering people and one of the best ways by which you can empower individuals is to give them an appropriate education. The focus is on disadvantaged women and youths; we believe that women can play an important role just as equal as men, in developing our communities and by extension developing our society… each person deserves an opportunity, therefore, this course will seek to empower the women that we have identified to create behavioural change, to engage in financial management as well as having an understanding of business management.”

President of Mitsubishi Corporation Caribbean branch, Yohei Sasagawaa, said, inter alia: “Mitsubishi is pleased to have worked along with Critchlow Labour College to successfully develop yet another project which will aid in the development of Guyana and her people.”

The fledgling President Ali’s administration is off to a great start in addressing pressing social issues and, hopefully, more projects slated to empower women in the society are in the works.