THE Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) on Thursday observed International Women’s Day under the theme, “#PressforProgress” with a march and ceremony in Bartica, Region Seven, celebrating women in water and other notable women.

Minister of Public Affairs, Dawn Hastings-Williams; Region Seven officials, GWI’s Managing- Director, Dr Richard Van-West Charles; board members and over 100 members of staff from across the country, marched from the Bartica Stelling to GWI’s regional office on Fifth Avenue, the venue for the well attended ceremony.

Delivering the feature address at the ceremony, Minister Hastings-Williams commended GWI for recognising the relevance of its female staff in every way and seeking to grant them their due respect and consideration.

“GWI has sought to close the gender-inequality gap by granting highly qualified and skilful women the opportunity to be top executives and heads of departments,” she said.
The public affairs minister pointed out that managerial positions within the company such as those in revenue, collections and billings management, human resources and commercial relations are held by women.

She also noted that 80 per cent of GWI’s female staff are mothers, which is evidence that a balance between professional life and home responsibilities is possible.
Minister Hastings-Williams highlighted that women of GWI are holders of higher-education degrees in areas such as economics, civil and electrical engineering, architecture and biology.

“Women at GWI have over and over again broken the social stereotype that women are only inclined to the arts and humanities careers, rather than STEM careers,” she stressed.
Positions such as meter reader, water services inspector, leakage inspector and production and distribution supervisors are also held by women. Some 263 women in GWI are office-based while 82 are field-based.

Turning her attention to the women of Guyana as a whole, the minister said they have come a long way since International Women’s Day was first observed here.
“They are more cognisant of their place within society and they demand the respect and treatment they deserve. They seek for social progress, they seek for economic progress, they seek for development within different aspects of society and varied occupations,” the minister said.

She saluted the women of GWI, Bartica and the country as a whole and encouraged them to continue pressing for progress in different aspects of their lives.
Meanwhile, GWI’s Managing-Director, Dr Richard Van-West Charles saluted the women of GWI and thanked them for their contributions.
He said that International Women’s Day is one which focuses on equity, fairness and justice.

Dr Van-West Charles acknowledged the need to closely examine human resource practices, so as to ensure that women are equipped with information about vacancies within the company.

The managing-director stressed the need for all to have a gender-parity mindset and to challenge the stereotypes and biases among both men and women.
Chairperson of GWI’s Board of Directors, Patricia Chase-Green, pointed out that the company can proudly boast that women are included at every level.

She urged female staffers of GWI not to be content with where they are and to advocate for progress in every sphere of their lives.
The women of the company along with other women from the region were presented with tokens of appreciation.

Also present at the event were Regional Chairman Gordon Bradford; Bartica Mayor Gifford Marshall; and Deputy Mayor Kamal Persaud, among others.