SCORES of people last Saturday attended a concert in honour of women which was coordinated by the Ministry of Social Protection (MoSP) in collaboration with the Canadian High Commission.
The concert was held at the Promenade Gardens.

The concert featured riveting performances from the likes of singer and former Miss World Guyana, Lisa Punch; Canadian jazz singer, Faith Amour; calypso winner, Onika Joseph and other female Guyanese talents.

Though a short downpour cut the proceedings, the hundreds present ‘pressing for progress’, remained to revel in the celebrations. First Lady, Mrs Sandra Granger was among those who braved the rains to enjoy the concert. Giving the feature remarks earlier, she highlighted the myriad of opportunities harnessed by women across Guyana.

“I must say that I am in awe of the women and children who have been beaten down by circumstances but have seized the opportunities offered to transform their lives,” Mrs Granger declared.

Through programmes fostered by her office, many Guyanese women, children and men have been able to garner training opportunities and generally, empowered to transform their lives.
She shared successes garnered by the ‘Self-reliance and success inbBusiness workshops’ where nearly 900 women and a few men, drawn from every administrative region, participated.

“I have seen women who have completed the Self-reliance and Success in Business workshops conducted by Interweave Solutions in collaboration with my office, prepare their business plans and apply for loans and grants from the microenterprise organisations,” the First Lady noted.

Furthermore, she said, “I have seen one of our workshop participants, less than a year after completing that workshop, submit her business plan at the national Guyexpo competition and place third.” And some of these women, according to her, have even followed the necessary steps to sell their products in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). She also addressed various organiz-sations and areas where women have benefitted and notably mentioned the work done by the Women Across Differences(WAD) and pioneer of robotics in Guyana, Karen Abrams.

While the First Lady and her office have been instrumental in fostering activities which promote women, she counted herself fortunate to be surrounded by people like her husband, President David Granger, and various governmental ministers, who also see the need to empower women and strive for gender parity. Speaking to the Guyana Chronicle was Canadian High Commissioner, Lilian Chatterjee, who noted that Canada has had a long history of promoting gender equality and was happy to see this fostered in Guyana. “We wanted to do something special for Guyana- for International Women’s Day–and what we wanted to do was celebrate Guyanese achievements,” Chatterjee said. “The whole purpose of this event was to showcase Guyanese performers and to basically celebrate the progress of women.”