Two members of the Official Opposition said yesterday the government has politicized the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Women’s Suffrage Movement by using its campaign slogan on the backs of billboards commemorating the event..
The images of women who were instrumental in the fight for women’s right to vote in The Bahamas are on those billboards, which have been erected across New Providence.
The backs of these billboards bear the words ‘Believe in Bahamas’, the Progressive Liberal Party’s (PLP) election slogan. The words are in the party’s colors. Most of the billboards do not have the names of the women on them.
The Nassau Guardian spoke with Janice Knowles, co-chair of the Independence Committee, who recognized that leaving the names off was a mistake.
Knowles said yesterday the government contracted a private company to erect the billboards. “He determined what he would do,” Knowles said, referring to the owner of the company. She added that she had not noticed the ‘Believe in Bahamas’ slogan behind the billboards.
Asked whether she thought the use of that slogan was appropriate, she said it would have to be something the committee would have to discuss.
Free National Movement (FNM) Deputy Leader Loretta Butler-Turner said the use of the slogan is an affront to the suffrage movement, which involved women with different backgrounds and politics coming together for one goal.
“They are the government and they politicized this milestone in the history of Bahamians,” said Butler- Turner, who is also the MP for Long Island. “It is an absolute shame, a crying shame to see those posters with a campaign slogan on the back of them.”
Butler-Turner also said many of the women who are being celebrated were not instrumental in the movement which began in the 1950s.
“We should not dilute the power of the real women who actually fought, who went to London, who did all of this groundwork in The Bahamas, to make this happen,” she said after contacted by The Nassau Guardian for her views.
“I don’t think we should dilute that with all of the other political persons that sort of joined in the numbers and would have gained some popularity after women gained the right to vote.”
FNM Chairman Charles Maynard also sees the use of the PLP’s slogan on the billboards as a polarizing move. “My grandmother is one of the ladies who were part of the ladies’ suffrage movement,” Maynard told The Nassau Guardian.
“Her poster is up there. How does that make certain members of my family feel in regards to trying to make it a political statement rather than her taking a stand as a nationalist?”
He said for too long important periods of national development — like majority rule, the Women’s Suffrage Movement and independence — have been celebrated as victories for the PLP.
“I thought that as we move closer to our 40th anniversary of independence that we could start to move away from the politicizing of these important moments in history,” Maynard said.
“Some of the people who were involved in moving us to majority rule and independence have been supporters of the Free National Movement or other political parties.”
However, PLP Chairman Bradley Roberts said the criticism is simply the opposition party grasping at straws..
“[They] are picking at every single item,” Roberts said. “They don’t have anything of substance to add.”
He said he had not seen the slogan on the billboards.
But Roberts said he did not see why using the PLP slogan to celebrate the Women’s Suffrage Movement would cause concern.
“They don’t want Bahamians to believe in The Bahamas and in themselves? How low can they go?” he said. “It’s a winning slogan.”
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Women’s Suffrage Movement. The observance coincided with celebrations marking the country’s 39th anniversary of independence.
Taneka Johnson
The Nassau Guardian
