Lack of support, including access to funding, marginalisation, and bias are just some of the challenges that hinder women’s participation in politics, according to several parliamentarians.
Speaking on Friday at a UN Women’s consultation on women’s participation in politics in the Parliament Chamber, Public Buildings, Minister of Tourism and APNU+AFC Member of Parliament (MP) Cathy Hughes said that these challenges begin at the community level. “The system only allows for a certain type of woman who can go into her own pocket and pay to drive out of town, or to order in food for her if she doesn’t get home to look after the kids and the husband,” she said.
With this in mind, Hughes noted that often young, budding female politicians are seen as second best to their male counterparts and particularly when the majority of funding comes from businessmen, women find themselves on the back burner. Thus, access to funding is a “fundamental issue” that affects women’s participation in the political sphere, she noted.
Friday’s discourse formed a part of the UN Women’s Caribbean Institute for Women in Leadership (CIWiL) consultation on women’s participation in the political sphere. Also part of the consultation was the unveiling of the CIWiL strategic plan to enhance women’s political participation.
In attendance were several parliamentarians, including Ministers Hughes, Valerie Garrido-Lowe, Nicolette Henry, and Volda Lawrence, as well as People’s Progres-sive Party/Civic members Indra Chandarpal, Pauline Sukhai and Yvonne Pearson.
Hughes applauded Chandarpal for publicly calling out a former minister for disrespecting a woman and pointed out that the incident had highlighted the social and political victimisation that discourages women from becoming involved in politics. Women are given the impression that “it’s better you just talk in you lil corner and stay behind because it’s an easier life to live if you don’t get involved,” she said, while noting that there needs to be awareness that it is unacceptable to treat a woman in such a way.
“It is these realities and disappointments that women are faced with and should be discussed. Each of us here has a story of how we got here, and I’m sure it has been a long and hard road. But I know a lot of vibrant and fantastic young women in my party right in Guyana who I have continuously encouraged,” she added.
‘Not an easy road’
Meanwhile, Chandarpal, who is also chairwoman of the Women and Gender Equality Commission, expressed her belief that women in political parties have been excluded from any type of discussion for as long as anyone can remember. This, she said, goes along with the fact that women in the political realm are left to squabble with the men.
“Nobody knows the fights that women in political parties have to take, make and engage in. You have all kinds of biases in the political party among the male members themselves and, in order for you to have your space, you have to be fighting, arguing and trying to wrestle as much as possible for any little space you can have,” Chandarpal said.
Moreover, she stated that the struggle does not only happen at work but at home as well. This, she said, comes as a result of women having to juggle the responsibility of having a successful career as well as managing a family.
She noted that often women find that they will be reading to improve themselves in order to remain respectable and relevant in the political field. “You have to educate yourself constantly and then you have to deal with all the grassroots meetings that are spread all across the country. It is then you make the realisation that your time is not your own anymore, you are now a servant of the people, that’s how I see myself as a political woman. That is the reality of political women. It is not an easy road to travel,” Chandarpal said.
Furthermore, she stated that women from the rural areas find it even more challenging as they are often times far removed from what is going on. “They don’t have the opportunity, they don’t have the self-esteem as they ought to because where they’re living nothing much is happening,” she said.
Likewise, Sukhai, former Minister of Amer-indian Affairs, emphasised the importance of education in building leadership skills, while noting that it is the cornerstone for shaping and influencing the minds of potential female politicians.
In order to sell the political realm as an alluring direction for young women, Sukhai noted that work must be done to change the stigma and stereotyping that is attached to politics. She noted that if this is not done, the women will continue to look at politics as “dirty game or a corrupt process.”
“We need our women to step away from their comfort zone of being a housewife, of being a doctor and bring them into the realm of politics,” Sukhai said, while adding that education plays a critical role because it allows young women to appreciate that politics is another profession that allows women to influence policy and change.
According to Head of the Sociology Department’s Gender Unit at the University of Guyana Paulette Henry, women’s participation in politics is an area that needs to be addressed frontally and robustly, since women make up 50% of the country’s total population.
