Women in politics - where are they?

Lucille Seymour	Berna Thompson Cummins	Beulah McField
Sandra Catron	Edna Moyle	Alex Johnson
Julianna O’Connor Connolly	Mary J Lawrence	Maxine McCoy Moore

Friday, March 25, 2005

Between 1992 and1996 Heather Bodden, Edna Moyle and Berna Thompson Cummins were the only three women that were members of the highest team of leaders in the Cayman Islands – the Legislative Assembly. 

In the four years following, there was no increase in the number and again, only three women, Heather Bodden, Julianna O’Connor Connolly and Edna Moyle participated in governance at that level.

However, between 2000 and 2005 only Julianna O’Connor Connolly and Edna Moyle found a place in the Legislative Assembly.

Coupled with the decline in the number of women leaders, there has also been a decrease in the number of women offering themselves for political candidacy. This year, the upcoming general elections in May 2005 will see nine women standing for election compared to the year 2000 when the number of women offering themselves for leadership was over forty per cent higher.

Of the seven women on this year’s slate of candidates, who are not already in the Legislative Assembly, four have run for office before and are known in some way in the political arena. We therefore have only three women giving firm evidence of being newly attracted to politics and leadership at this level.

We live in a time when women are supposed to be taken more seriously when it comes to leadership politically all over the world, but there is still plenty of evidence to suggest that entrance into the anterooms of power is still regulated by the seemingly ubiquitous boys’ club. Women have certainly been straining at the leashes of the women-in-the-home unwritten rules and traditions.

Asked to comment on the decline in the number of women in political leadership Edna Moyle, who has many years of political leadership to her credit, said, “I am hopeful that through the educational process women in Cayman will recognise that they have a right to speak up and out on issues and play a greater role in governance.

“The fact that I have read where more women are reporting cases of abuse is a good sign. When I helped to start the Agency of Women’s Affairs in March 1995 we had no reported cases of abuse. By April of that same year there were 200 reported cases.

“At the last elections we had nineteen women going to the polls and of that number only two were elected. We have a situation where even though women constitute the greater number of electors at the polls they themselves don’t vote for women because they subscribe to the view that women should remain solely in the home. 

“Only education will change this thinking,” added Ms Moyle.

“I hope that this decline in numbers is because women are caught up with rebuilding their homes thus making participation in this election difficult,” said Berna Thompson Cummins, a member of the People’s Democratic Alliance.

“We recognise that women are busy advancing in their careers and making strides that will make a real difference for their families.

“I hope that this direction will soon trickle over into the political arena. I hope to see at least four new women being ushered into the Legislative Assembly,” said Ms Cummins.

Mary J Lawrence, another woman who has offered herself many times for leadership said, “I hope to see more women elected into office because the human side is missing from government.

“Women are known to focus on issues that affect people and right now we need to bring the focus of government back to people.

“I feel that the opportunities for women in this election are far greater than ever before. It is unfortunate that women have never exercised their vote in favour of their own sex to be able to get what they need to get done, or attended to,” Ms Lawrence explained.

New independent candidate, Sandra Catron said, “There are a number of forces working against women who want to enter politics but carry the responsibility of children, their homes and their careers, by themselves, while men usually have a great deal of support in managing these other areas of their lives.

“One critical thing is that men who are still seeing politics as an old boys’ club should be more willing to allow young women in. I found that older women are also among those who think that young women leaders need to wait their turn and are not ready for leadership yet,” said Ms Catron.

Beulah McField, another new face in the political race said, “The season is perfect for female candidates and leaders in Cayman.

“Normally seen as a game that men play, women are now climbing further than Permanent Secretary posts and moving up to heads of Ministries. This is a positive sign of change in Cayman,” said Ms McField.

“It’s only in the Caribbean that I have found this ‘women-can’t-do’ myth,” said Alex Johnson, a new candidate in the race. “I lived in the United States for many years where I started out at the bottom rung of the ladder and rose to President of a large company.

“There is no bigger job than raising five children while managing a career. I have done it and many other women do.

“Women lead with greater compassion and I am saddened to see that of the forty-five candidates we do not have 24 women instead of nine,” said Ms Johnson.

Lucille Seymour who lost by only a narrow margin in the last general elections and is again seeking election said that in relation to this topic she remembered that Confucius was purported to have said that women hold up half the sky. “We must realise that women’s perspectives must be interjected into society and they must be equal partners in leadership.”

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