–President Ali says

THE People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) on Thursday celebrated the life of former President, Janet Jagan.
At the simple but significant ceremony, President, Dr Irfaan Ali, said many issues that she identified remain fundamental to the development of society and the advancement of women’s rights.

The Head of State related that Jagan’s name is etched in Guyana’s history and her achievements cannot be erased.
“We are comforted that her legacy cannot be erased or diminished, not by the passage of time or by the maliciousness of the detractors. Comrade Janet Jagan will remain a timeless figure in our party and [in our] country’s history,” President Ali said.

Dr Ali hailed Jagan as a phenomenal woman who was a leader in the fight for the restoration of democracy, a champion of the working class and one of Guyana’s foremost advocates for women’s rights.
The PPP/C and government remain committed to the same causes and objectives championed by Jagan and have not deviated from the struggle for equality for women, among other things.

On the issue of women’s rights, Dr Ali said that Jagan was a constant agitator for women’s rights and had proved the same as she took up the challenge in support of women’s rights just one year after arriving in Guyana.
This challenge took the form of the founding of the Political Affairs Committee and the women’s political and economic organisation, which sustained the agitation for women’s rights and empowerment.

At that time, Jagan linked the struggle for universal adult suffrage to the rights of women, seeing that many women were disenfranchised from voting.
This, President Ali said, was not only about the right to vote but also about empowering women politically.

While serving as minister, Jagan promulgated legislation which reduced the hours of work for store workers who were mostly women at that time and further ensured the protection of domestic workers.
Dr Ali said: “Janet Jagan expanded her understanding of women’s rights, she saw women’s rights as going beyond something that is enacted in law and the constitution. For her, women’s rights were not paper rights but must have social and economic dimensions.”

Against this backdrop, President Ali referenced a speech which Jagan delivered to the National Assembly in 1981, when she addressed what exactly women’s rights were about at that time.
In the excerpt of the speech read by the Head of State, Jagan noted that women’s rights were about the full employment of women, providing them with a decent wage. She added that it was about having proper pre – and post-natal care, not having women carry buckets of water and spending hours queueing up for essential items.

President Ali said: “This is what comrade Janet said in 1981 when women’s rights and women empowerment was a taboo issue. The issues she identified then are still most relevant in our societies today. The issues she identified then are fundamental to the development of society and the advancement of women.”
To this end, he added that this is the philosophy which still guides the PPP/C and the government.