Atherley calls for equal opportunities for women

Leader of the Opposition, Bishop Joseph Atherley is calling for equal opportunities to be afforded to all women in this country.

He made the appeal yesterday during a joint sitting of the House of Assembly and the Senate, just moments after Governor General Dame Sandra Mason became the President-elect of Barbados, surpassing the two-thirds majority needed by the Constitution, with all the votes cast – 27 in the House of Assembly and 18 in the Senate – being in her favour.

He spoke highly of Dame Sandra, who he said has achieved excellence publicly and professionally, and who he said “symbolises and gives substantive expression to that which we desire to be ideally Barbadian”. With that in mind, Atherley said she is worthy of the “signal honour” of becoming the country’s first president, adding to the many other firsts she has achieved throughout her distinguished career, including being the first Barbadian female admitted to the Barbados Bar; the first female magistrate to serve as an ambassador; the first woman appointed to serve on the Barbados Court of Appeal; and the first Barbadian to be appointed as a member of the Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal.

The Opposition Leader said the advancement of women in our society, our economy and our governance structure is very evident, and certainly embraced, but he lamented that in most cases such advancement is limited. He noted that it has been taking place “among women at the higher levels of socio economic life in this country, while women at the lower levels face a persistent reality of hardship and challenges”.

“I speak of the likes of shop assistants, gas attendants, security guards, domestics, maids, factory workers, hotel workers etc. It is my view that a high priority in the new republic headed by a woman, therefore must be that we change that situation. Change in our constitutional status is without sufficiency of meaning, unless we change for the better, and radically so, the lot [and] the plight of our people. Particularly so today, we focus on our women,” Bishop Atherley stated.

The Leader of the Opposition continued, “It cannot be that we elect a woman as our first President, have a female as our Prime Minister, and not realise that a much more robust effort is imperatively and urgently needed to counter the trinity of evil - that is, economic exploitation of our women in the workplace; sexual harassment of our young ladies in vulnerable settings; or female domestic abuse, now perceived as a cultural norm, and par for the course”.

In that vein, he also suggested that Barbados should at the “earliest practicable period” of the new presidency, establish a presidential commission, which would have as its mandate to guide the development of a national charter for single mothers in Barbados.

“Among our female population, this is a particular category of women, with their own distinct challenges,” he contended.

Meanwhile, Bishop Atherley reiterated the parliamentary opposition’s “strong concern” regarding the manner in which Barbados was becoming a republic.

“We believe the process is wrong, is flawed, and that both a public education programme, and the formulation of a new republic constitution should precede the country assuming the status of Republic. We believe that timing is wrong; not the time or period of history at which we have arrived, for truly that is fully our moment. But, this moment, and the circumstances which preclude a fulsome celebration, and nationally expressed embrace of this step - the country is both distracted and somewhat depressed,” he maintained.

Atherley said the “constitutional and legal appropriateness” of the approach to change the country’s status, should be better addressed and “put to rest”.

(JRT)