Don’t silence their voices
Pamela Coke-Hamilton, Executive Director of the Caribbean Export Development Agency, stated in light of the recent incident which resulted in the murder of Onica King, that this woman’s voice was silenced like so many others.
While speaking at the Soroptimist International Barbados 55th Annual General Meeting at Accra Beach Hotel & Spa, she called on the Soroptimists that if possible to get a list of those names of women that have been silenced and publish it and give them a voice. “They have names, not just another woman killed by an angry man who felt like he owned her.”
Coke-Hamilton also praised the work of the organisation. She stated, “I want to say how impressed I am at how much you have accomplished with practical and targeted programmes focused on women.”
The Executive Director identified, “The challenges women face in business is not separate from gender-based violence; a lot of men resent the fact that when women become more successful, they have a stronger voice. It is not an accident that many women who become more independent are also subject to more violence and so we can’t separate the two, but we need to find a way to figure out how to make it to work…”
She previously stated, “The Caribbean is ahead than other continents. There are women in some African cultures that cannot own land, cannot sign anything, basically they have no rights economically. In the Caribbean we are in a much better place, but we do have violence against women, which is an issue to talk about. That is why the issue of economic empowerment matters; it is one thing to have legislation, but I know many women who are in positions where they go to work with a black eye or battered and they don’t feel they have options because he will hold the money for their children and she will not be able to support her kids or pay rent. We want to create that opportunity that they have choices because of economic empowerment, thus the initiative ‘Women Empowerment through Export (WE-Xport).’”
Coke-Hamilton urged, “Women need to support each other and too many of us don’t. Women need to mentor each other and create connections. We don’t call other women we know that have the capacity to do something. We need to form our own posse and strengthen each other, stand together, network, invest in each other. We are working on a link for networking and technical expertise.” (NB)