...recommended introduction of the award from the Women Agents of Change initiative it was meant to recognise the contributions to advancement of women and the mandate of gender equality 

--  Dr Kris Rampersad, Gender Empowerment Specialist/Consultant

No medal for development of women at national awards - Trinidad and Tobago Newsday: 

AT this year’s national awards ceremony on Republic Day on Sunday, no one was awarded the Medal for the Development of Women, raising questions in the minds of some members...

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No medal for development of women at national awards

Sean Douglas

 Tuesday 26 September 2023

Dr Kris Rampersad and former President Paula-Mae Weekes at the 2018 national awards ceremony. - Office of the President

AT this year's national awards ceremony on Republic Day on Sunday, no one was awarded the Medal for the Development of Women, raising questions in the minds of some members of the public.

Office of the President sources told Newsday on Sunday their only role was to host the event by way of Her Excellency Christine Kangaloo and the provision of President's House. The selection of awardees was done by an awards committee chaired by Chief Justice Ivor Archie.

The Office of President website said the award is for "any person for outstanding contribution to the development of women’s rights and issues."

It may be awarded in gold, silver or bronze in accordance with the assessed value of the service rendered, up to a maximum of ten awards in any one year.

Contacted by Newsday, Network of Women's NGOs former head Dr Kris Rampersad congratulated all recipients and especially the women awardees.

"I am not sure why no award was given for the category of the Medal for the Development of Women. As you may recall when we recommended introduction of the award from the Women Agents of Change initiative it was meant to recognise the contributions to advancement of women and the mandate of gender equality.

"We have seen over the years that there were shifts in it being awarded in some instances to women or groups whose work was not necessarily focussed on development of women." She had originally advocated to establish a women's award.

A deficit still persists in the numbers of women receiving national awards in other categories, said Rampersad, who received the National Award for the Development of Women (gold) for contributions to advancement of women and journalism in 2018 and is now an international development specialist.

“While we have seen increased focus on the role of women and the drive for gender equality that work is by no means over.

"What we do need is for the many women who are benefiting from our tireless efforts and are occupying higher places in management and other positions including in the office of the President, Parliament and elsewhere to ensure that equality remains at the top of developmental agenda with targeted actions to achieve this.

“The work in relation to gender equality is by no means over and in fact we have only just begun."

She said the Women Agents of Change initiative has now been absorbed into the development work of the UN and other international bodies.

Rampersad concluded to Newsday, "Perhaps it is best that you get from the awards committee if it felt that there were no women deserving of the award this year or why none was awarded. There is certainly need for rededication to advancing the work to bridge gender gaps and build on the achievements we have made to date as well as to concerted address the persistent and systemised dimensions of the gender gap that is inhibiting progress and change."

For more on gender empowerment and how you can support development of knowledge archives visit https://krisrampersad.com/

Silver Fox who dared Lions Prime Minister Basdeo Panday passes on

 He would be known as the Silver Fox who dared Lions. Former Prime Minister Basdeo Panday, the boy from the impoverished canefields of South Trinidad who has indelibly altered the political landscape of the Commonwealth and the Caribbean as Trinidad and Tobago’s fifth Prime Minister died at age 90 on New Years Day, 2024.

Find out more at Remembering the Silver Fox at the GloCaL Knowledge Pot

Subscribe to keep abreast of this series on Demokrissy at the GloCal Knowledge Pot 

Celebrating the role of women

Celebrating the role of women by Dr Kris Rampersad 20110831 The recognition given to the work of a number of women who have been toiling in the vineyard for many years, working at the human development of women and their communities, is of great significance and so for a number of reasons. The first and perhaps most important element of the recognition is that the work in communities and amongst women has been done. The historical reality is that women have been among the most disadvantaged groups in Caribbean society while making great contributions to family and social life, education, economic development, even in the severe business of the development of the political culture and its organisations. The fact that a woman now sits in the highest political office of political leader and prime minister is testimony to that fact. But even more important has been the work of tens of thousands of women in holding their families together, with grandmothers, aunts, even the traditional "aunty" and "nennen" from next door featuring in the bringing up of children. Award recipients such as Hazel Brown, Diana Mahabir-Wyatt and Brenda Goopeesingh, in their own right and representative of dozens of women going back over several generations, deserve being recognised for the work they have done to empower women to believe in themselves and to take charge of their lives and those of their children. The second important consequence of the recognition must be the message it sends to the national community that the Government believes that women and the work they do are important for national development. Too often has that fact gone unrecognised. One classic example of the non-recognition, even in these supposedly evolved times, is the fact that work in the household, done mainly by women, is not included in the national statistics. In identifying and awarding women who have made their contribution in the home-and surely the modern woman who is making a double contribution through the work they do in the office, farm and elsewhere-the society has an opportunity to make a quicker transit to a greater level of consciousness about the role of women in modern society. For the likes of the specific women mentioned above, the award must be particularly satisfying. This is so because for decades these women and the causes they have stood for have not always been popular. In particular Brown and Mahabir-Wyatt have not been afraid to say publicly and loudly things which have not been popular. Indeed they have been the butt of male-oriented humour, which has mocked their gender and their capacity to lead in a meaningful manner. The society as a whole must salute them and be happy for them for having the courage (perhaps at times it required not being afraid) to take on physically opponents by marching and holding the placards on the picket lines. The work of Helen Bhagwansingh, separate and apart from being part of a team to have developed and now manage a massive and successful commercial organisation, has been her generosity to deprived persons and communities. She has also funded community-oriented health research. The former first lady has quietly gone about the community work she has been engaged in over many decades and it is good too that that work has been recognised. Outside of that group of women recognised specifically for their community-oriented work, women in public life such as retired judge, Gladys Gafoor, academic sociologist, Susan Craig, retired police officer, Margaret Sampson-Brown, Irma Simonette, culture and calypsonian Denyse Plummer are all deserving. It is a sign of maturing society by this special recognition. Celebrating the role of women | The Trinidad Guardian