Reciting the pledge of the PBW were Annie Multon, president of BPW; Lynette Chand, 1st vice president, Charmaine Moss, 2nd vice president; Angella Doyle, Secretary; Karen Bodden, Treasure and outgoing president at the Wharf Restaurant.

The Business and Professional Women (BPW) inducted its new Board and pinned new members of the Young Business and Professional Women (YBPW) at a Candlelight Ceremony held at the Wharf Restaurant on 1 April.

Annie Multon, president of BPW; Lynette Chand, 1st vice president, Charmaine Moss, 2nd vice president; Angella Doyle, Secretary; Karen Bodden, Treasure and outgoing president all swore to uphold the rules and traditions of the BPW and lit a candle.

Seven members were added to the YBPW when they received their pins. The Cayman Islands’ BPW is in its 30th year here but for over the past 75 years, BPW members worldwide have been working on improving the status of women and developing their potential to enable them to sustain themselves, as well as lobbying for women’s issues to promote gender equality in their own country, at the United Nations and other International bodies.

Alexa Thomas, one of the newly pinned YBPWs, read the message of the BPW International 2005 – 2008 President, Dr Chonchanok Viravan: “Though we have to admit that today a multitude of problems facing women remain, we should not feel discouraged and wonder why we should continue our quest when we can’t possibly solve all the issues for millions of women in the world,” she noted.

“Candle-lighting ceremony is an opportunity for BPW members to remind ourselves that we are not alone in our effort to achieve the aim of developing women’s professional and leadership potential at all levels. “When we light the candles of our founders, we should remember the difference the founders of BPW International did make.

“We should remember things that our founders successfully advocated for, such as the formation of United Nations Commission on Status of women and the organization of the First Women World Conference, which helped build a foundation that strengthens the efforts to address women’s issues and monitor advancement of women at global levels today.

“When we light the candles of other BPW member countries, we should remember the difference we did make through ongoing work to help women gain their economic independence worldwide.” She explained that BPWs aim to develop women’s professional and leadership potential at all levels, with the determination that their effort will lead to equal participation of women and men in power and decision-making roles.

BPW in Cayman has about 40 members; it has a task force that is looking at legislation to deal with stalking and sexual harassment. There are about 25 members of the YBPW. The members are between the ages of 18-35. Speaker of the House, the Hon Edna Moyle, was named BPW’s Woman of the Year. MC for the show was former president and present PR and Liaison Officer, Velma Powery-Hewitt.