Message- The Alliance For Change (AFC) salutes all women of our great nation on the occasion of International Women’s Day 2024, observed on 8th March, under the theme “Invest in women: Accelerate progress”
From the struggle for independence to present day, women have been at the forefront of forging Guyana’s development. In the rice and cane fields, manufacturing and industry, health and education, in the world of sport, as C-suite executives and in the legislature, in every aspect of national life, Guyanese women have kept the fabric of our society intact. Today we pay homage to their sacrifices.
While as a nation we have done much to ensure women have equal rights as their men folk there is still much more to be done.
Our fight to protect our women must go beyond legislation and politically correct statements. Everyday, we read on social media platforms of women being abused, the graphic images often presented are horrifying.
Guyana today is the fastest growing global economy but yet mothers cannot put three meals on the table or send their children to school. Many are still forced to fetch water from nearby creeks and too many are being underpaid and victimised by employers. At each Sitting of the National Assembly some of the female Members of the coalition are singled out for the most volatile attacks by male members on the opposite side with seldom a word of condemnation coming from the House.
There can be no real development until these and the multiple other challenges facing women are addressed in a sustainable manner. Speaking of a ‘One Guyana’ and Guyana being the fastest growing economy in the world are just empty words when women continue to suffer in poverty and from physical, verbal and emotional abuse.
The call to invest in women must go beyond checking boxes on some document. Women today need safe spaces where they can nurture their families, develop themselves and contribute in a meaningful way to the development of our country and where their contributions are valued.
It is time to end the rhetoric and place women issues front and centre of every aspect of national development and national life. It is time for our women to benefit more from our oil revenues. It is time for our women to be treated with respect. Let us restore dignity to our womenfolk. It is the time of the Guyanese woman.
Long live the resilience of the Guyanese woman.
