IN celebrating International Women’s Day, Minister of Human Services and Social Security Priya Manickchand hosted ‘Phenomenal Woman’, an evening of song, dance, spoken word, and drama the life story of women throughout the years. It was entertaining, from all accounts, if I am to believe the word of my colleagues, and I have no reason not to. (I was not there. Male members of the press were reportedly prohibited from going near the event.)

If the aim of the event was to celebrate the achievements of women both in and outside of Guyana, over the years, then it was a resounding success. If the aim of the event was to highlight the need for gender equality in fostering peace and development, then, again, it did achieve its aim.

However, I felt that one characteristic of the event marred it. A marked absence of the women who cannot afford a taxi fare to the Theatre Guild, because that money will most likely be used to send her two children to school.

An absence of women not accustomed to the cocktail scene because they are too busy trying to make ends meet every day, living from day to day and not being able to lift their economic circumstance because of not being what the banks describe as credit worthy.

At the risk of being lynch-mobbed, I must say that the real women were absent. I say real because such women are the ones described by the United Nations and many other organs as most vulnerable.

Why were these women not part of the celebration? Are they not worthy of gracing the Theatre Guild? Are their voices not worthy of being heard? What about their concerns? They should have been there to tell the audience that in 2011, they still live in a world that is unequal, despite all of the progress seen over the decades.

I am wondering to what extent the organisers of this event went to invite the women of this country who every day feel the brunt of economic fallout of the effects of climate change, economic hardship and a disproportionate burden of raising children on their own, even if fathers chip in monetarily.

I heard of the event being held at the Theatre Guild and attended by mostly well-to-do, professional, educated and cultured women who are not unaccustomed to the limelight. I was hoping to hear that some of the women with the real stories of disenfranchisement and disadvantaged would have been heard at the event.

Were they present to hear the poetry on women, or to watch and appreciate the theatrical performances made in their honour?

What about women disadvantaged by HIV? What about female commercial sex workers? They still face disproportionate levels of stigma and discrimination because of their lifestyle.

Were their voices heard on Monday night? Such persons are also discriminated against when they have to pick up their ARVs or seek other services. Have the organisers discussed how nurses sometimes make snide remarks to mothers writhing in pain because their delivery time is close? Such is the reality of women.

While they enjoyed the evening of celebrating the struggles and successes of women over the years, did the women gathered at the gala remember the women working for next to nothing as security guards, putting their lives and health at risk just so that they could provide for their children? What about those who stand waist-high in dirty trenches cleaning for a living? Did they even know of the event?

What about the thousands of women who sell in the market places across the coast; those who brave the elements to put their items out from the night before to catch the earliest sales for their greens and provisions? Were any market women invited to this gala event celebrated in their honour?

While the event singled out stalwarts in the fight for women’s rights in this country, wider tribute has to be paid to all of the women who had the strength to end abusive relationships and break out of the fetters of dependency.

Their names may not be known, but they are heroines in their own right and have aptly contributed to the struggle.

The Ministry would have been ‘keeping it real’ if they brought the farmers, greens vendors, market sellers, cleaners and domestics, women in the lower level public service – those who feel the brunt of the hardship, disenfranchisement and disempowerment from climate change and events caused by the policies of first world countries.

The United Nations in its 2009 World Survey on the Role of Women in Development, higher levels of education over the years, has not been accompanied by increased gender equality in returns to labour.

That report also said that increased participation in paid work “has not translated into reduced burdens of unpaid work within the home.”

That report said persistent violence against women also curtails the potential of many women in all regions to access and effectively utilise economic and financial resources. “Lack of access to and control over economic resources such as land, personal property, wages and credit, can put women at a greater risk of violence,” it said.

Naila Kabeer of the Department of Development Studies at the London School of Oriental and African Studies writes about the concept of social exclusion in her paper entitled ‘MDGs, Social Justice and the Challenge of Intersecting Inequalities’, saying that in almost every society, and in almost every region of the world, certain groups of people face systematic social exclusion.

She says the social exclusion is caused by multiple inequalities that constrict their life chances, including cultural inequalities, such as forms of discrimination, spacial inequalities, where they increasingly live in places harder to reach or easier to ignore, and economic inequalities, often disadvantaged by the unfair distribution of wealth.

Those who committed themselves to the cause of women, and had the biggest stage on which to do so, missed an opportunity to bring to the fore the most real and impactful examples of women in the struggle for equality. Had the seats been filled with grassroots women, those who live day to day, the panels and others in the audience would have heard what it really means to be poor, disenfranchised, and marginalised, irrespective of gender.