THE Women’s Progressive Organisation (WPO) observed its 69th Anniversary yesterday, May 27, 2022 as the nation concludes its 56th Independence anniversary celebrations. We take this opportunity to thank our party, the People’s Progressive Party, for having the vision to form this organisation, which was created to support and advocate for the advancement of women’s rights and equality.

We wish to pay special tribute to all the women who were the forerunners and, on whose shoulders, we stood on to achieve significant strides for women. We wish to recognise our late leader and founder Mrs. Janet Jagan who worked tirelessly for the advancement of women in all spheres of life. It is opportune to remind the citizens of this country that as early as 1953, she was already calling for Guyanese to have the right to self-determination and adult suffrage.

We salute the heroic leaders who took up the cudgel of struggle and who provided dynamic leadership to an oppressed people. Guyana has come a long way and the WPO has been part of the struggle to free our country from our colonial masters and from PNC dictatorship.

We are indeed proud of the role our women have played. We are at a cusp of unprecedented development and we wish to use this occasion to call on all women to take part in all aspects of development that is unfolding. The struggle for women to have the right to vote and to have education are two important principles that we have fought for and won. Thus, women need to ensure that they are part of the developmental agenda. The PPP has worked tirelessly to support and create opportunities for all Guyanese, including women. The women of Guyana are indeed fortunate to live in a country where their rights are protected and where strong efforts have been made to remove barriers to their upwards mobility. We take this opportunity to reiterate President Ali’s message on International Women’s Day 2022, where he stated, “We owe it to women everywhere to celebrate, not only their contribution; contribution is a minimal approach at looking at this, but celebrating their integral role in the development and integration of societies.”

We wish to thank all the women in the WPO who have worked beyond the call of duty to assist the party in every facet of its work. Happy 69th anniversary WPO.

Women’s Progressive Organisation