Commonwealth Day, 2011 will be celebrated by 54 countries the world over on Monday. This year, the focus will be on “Women: Agents of Change”. I immediately remember the words of Tonga native Carolanne Makakaufaki, “I am a beautiful, strong, educated young woman. We need more of us”.
As I contemplate the significance of this theme, I am taken back to 2003. It was the year of the 15th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers hosted in Edinburgh, Scotland and held under the theme “Closing the Gap – Access, Inclusion, and Achievement”.
Members of the Ministers Meeting, Youth Symposium and Parallel Symposium all met with the hopes of identifying the necessary changes in education within the Commonwealth to ensure the strength and progressiveness of all nations involved, beginning with the needs of Youth in six areas including ‘Eliminating Gender Disparities’.
An excerpt from the 15CCEM Edinburgh Communique and Action Plan reads: “Ministers recognised the importance of women having access to tertiary education so that they can become role models for younger girls and women. They also noted the continued need to encourage girls into non-traditional areas of study such as mathematics and science, and women into leadership levels of education. Moreover, they appreciated the benefits to family welfare from better educated mothers.”
With the choice of this year’s theme for Commonwealth Day 2011 – ‘Women, Agents of Change”, I see that efforts continue to make the world knowledgeable of the plight of women in parts of the Commonwealth. While we in The Bahamas enjoy equality for women in Education and at the Office, there are those around the world who do not have the opportunities readily available to them in comparison due to cultural practices directly linked to gender.
There are women in parts of Africa who do not attend school because they see their menustration cycle. Yet others in different parts of The Commonwealth must leave school in their teens to begin lives as wives to older men. And others do not study certain subjects because it is not ‘fitting’ for a woman to pursue a career in that area.
The equality that we enjoy was not handed to us on a silver platter. We must not forget the Suffrage Movement in The Bahamas in the 1950’s championed by Mrs. Mabel Walker, Mrs. Georgina Symonette, Mrs. Eugenia Lockhart, Miss Althea Mortimer, Mrs. Muriel Eneas and Dame Doris Jonson. Their efforts and accomplishments on the behalf of women of their time and women today must not go unappreciated. Their contributions have changed the lives of women in The Bahamas indefinitely.
Let us encourage our young women to see the value in themselves as agents of change. We are responsible for the passing of cultural norms, mores and morals to our families. Our thinking and behavior directly affects the lives of our children and our nation as a whole. While the entire responsibility of nation building does not rest solely on our shoulders, we must ensure that we do our part in securing a sustainable future for our youth regardless of gender.
The Bahamas needs more women in The Arts: Music, Painting, Dance, Acting, etc. We need more women in Law, in Medicine, in Engineering and Architecture. There is a need for women in Journalism and Culinary Arts. I would like to encourage our women to embrace every opportunity for advancement available.
For our young women, continue to think outside the box, be creative and find ways to use your gifts and talents to the benefit of your communities. Be wise. Be knowledgeable, and be willing to learn more than necessary. Be creative, resourceful and resilient. The more you know about yourself, the more you understand your gifts and abilities, the more you will appreciate your value as a functioning member of society.
Bodine V. Johnson
Be Inked Press
