Forerunners to PPP, WPO, and Thunder
Inasmuch as the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) cannot celebrate its anniversaries without taking cognizance of its embryonic state within the Political Affairs Committee (PAC), which was the forerunner of Guyana’s premier political party, likewise the Women’s Progressive Organization (WPO) has to recollect that it evolved from the Women’s Political and Economic Organisation (WPEO), while the PAC Bulletin preceded the Thunder as the voices of the downtrodden people of this country’s colonial past.
Dr. Cheddi Jagan, Ashton Chase, Jocelyn Hubbard, and Mrs. Janet Jagan had formed the PAC in 1946, while Mrs. Janet Jagan, Winifred Gaskin, and Frances Stafford that same year founded the WPEO, the women’s arm of the budding political party, which evolved into the WPO upon the subsequent formation of the PPP.
May 27 last commemorated the 57th anniversary of the WPO, which the WPO celebrated with a programme of activities that spanned the length and breadth of Guyana, because that is the expanse covered by the Organisation’s membership, which has no ethnic, religious or other limitation.
In a press release the WPO said the following: “May 27th marked yet another milestone of the Women’s Progressive Organisation when it observed its 57th anniversary. This premier women’s organisation has had a long and proud history of working with women, especially those who reside in the rural communities.
“The WPO was formed at a very historic juncture of Guyana’s history when the first political party, the PPP, was established.
“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.
“WPO salutes all women on the occasion of its 57th anniversary.”
That simple message provides no indication of the unremitting, unrelenting struggles of members of the WPO to enable women of Guyana to enjoy the freedoms that they do today – freedom of choice of a career, of the pursuit of an education, the rights to stand up and speak out in the Legislative Assembly, among a plethora of others, to seek and hold leadership roles within societies and in the corporate and professional worlds.
These struggles began with women who stood alongside their men and sacrificed their lives and their freedoms for the causes of the beleaguered working class – women like Kowsilla, who gave up her life; and Janet Jagan, who was jailed and penalized in many ways as she fought for justice and equality in this nation right alongside her husband.
And few of us who can walk the roads which they carved can even remotely envisage the terror of the times when they joined hands to forge a common destiny for the people, particularly the women and children of this land.
It was with shock that I recently learnt that the WPO receives no funding from anywhere because of its political affiliation to the PPP, even though it is the only women’s organisation that reaches longest and furthest to empower the vulnerable in societies, ever since its establishment, with a special focus on empowering women and children.  This, in my view, smacks of the discrimination that has traditionally dogged this people-centric organisation by world bodies, especially International Funding Institutions, the representatives of which befriend cheats and charlatans who rob the persons they purport to help to fill their own coffers, then cast the dirt at the WPO.
On the occasion of the 99th International Women’s Day (IWD) Executive member of the Women’s Advisory Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Ms Karen Van Sluytman-Corbin, adjured those present to: “salute the strength and determination of those who have gone before us and the role they played in establishing the foundations on which today’s achievements have been grounded.  Let us not ignore them, as most of our history would have done.  Let us chronicle today’s achievements for those who follow us.”
Ms. Cheryl Sampson, a People’s National Congress Reform Member of Parliament and Chair of the PNCR National Congress of Women (NCW), recalled the contributions made by the three “J’s” (to lobbying for equal rights and opportunities for women), which were Janet Jagan, Jesse Burnham, and Jane Phillips-Gay – the first three women parliamentarians in Guyana, whom she said fought unrelentingly for women’s causes.
Speaking of their indomitable spirit of resilience and determination to further the causes of women, Ms Sampson “applauded the support they galvanized”.
In her opening remarks, Ms Van Sluytman-Corbin reminded her audience that on IWD, women, “regardless of ethnicity, religion, nationality, language, political affiliation or geography come together with unity of purpose to reflect on their political and social situation and the progress made toward gender equity.”
It is in this spirit that the founding members of the WPEO and the WPO established those women’s arms of their political organisations. It is the only spirit that will propel and accelerate justice and equity in the world, where women’s contributions to economic strengthening, infrastructural and industrial development and social enhancement and security are finally recognised and appreciated.