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She was speaking at a banquet hosted by the executive of the Royal Commonwealth Society to mark Commonwealth Day 2011.
The Prime Minister is in the British capital for a week of activities celebrating the Commonwealth. The theme of the celebration is 'Women as Agents of Change".
She is the current Chair-in-Office as the leader of the country to host the last
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). Later this year, she hands over the responsibility to Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard.
She told her audience now is the time for all nations to actively implement the policy that was affirmed by the Commonwealth in Trinidad and Tobago in 2009 that women and girls the world over have legal and humanitarian rights of equality, justice and fair play just like their male counterparts.
"I have said before that without these rights, economic, political and social progress will remain limited. With equal opportunities, both women and girls can improve their own lives, and in so doing, the lives of others, their communities and nations.
"From birth, to their first day in school, having a successful career – and everything in between – women and girls must be given the chance to succeed and become the agents of change we need.
"By breaking down barriers that prevent them from achieving their full potential, we can accelerate development, for the benefit of all. Women and girls hold the key to sustained development and improving the lives of others," she said.
Persad-Bissessar urged the Commonwealth and its various leaders to ensure that "we make every last effort to implement this policy...our future as individual nations and a collective global family depends on it."
"If we master the necessary will power and basic human goodwill that we are each endowed with, we have the ability to achieve a global society where every last nation is blessed with a shared culture of equality, justice and peace that is nourished by the gender, ethnic, national and local diversities that enrich our lives."
Persad-Bissessar noted that there is almost no societal scourge, international economic or financial crisis, or environmental challenge that does not affect at least one member of the Commonwealth, even if in the smallest possible way.
That is why, she said, even as the organisation has a strong past of unity in diversity to fuel it, "we cannot lose sight of the fact that our world today is on the threshold of tremendous social, economic and political change, and we must all keep in step the times."
She spoke of change that has been very much at the foreground in international circles in recent times and within political organisations, noting that it is a concept that is met with fear and mistrust for those who have grown comfortable with their daily routines.
However, Persad-Bissessar said change evokes "a powerful sense of new opportunities for advancement, self-improvement, development, innovation and advancement."
In the context of change she spoke of the critical role that women play in today's "global village" in which women are the dynamic force that both stabilizes and invigorates the community.
That stability is "largely housed in the bosoms of those who tend the hearths and gardens, manage the finances, stock and secure the homes, direct the schools, staff the hospitals, administer the courts, sustain the councils, and participate in the legislatures.
"In all of these, the pivotal role of women is well established and growing, and their influence over those they protect, assist, and cooperate with is equally strong and increasing," she said.
"It has perhaps become a maxim to state that women are part of the core fabric of our society and, as such, are equal to and, at times, surpass the men folk as the repositories of custom and tradition," Persad-Bissessar declared.
"Women embody, express, and represent the vitality and underpinnings of the socio-economic, political, and cultural groupings to which their peoples belong," she added.
The Prime Minister also paid tribute to the Queen, who as head of the Commonwealth is one of the most influential women of any day. representing the highest ideals and traditions of the United Kingdom and its dependencies, and the very Commonwealth itself.
Addressing the role of women in society she said it is important to consider how pivotal and dynamic women’s roles are in the context of effecting positive change in the society, "particularly as our international community continues to face new and traditional challenges on many fronts, in its efforts to promote peace, stability, economic well-being, justice and fair- play, and ecological and environmental stewardship, all on a broad scale."
She said, "In building and re-constructing communities from the ground level up, the contribution of women is the sine qua non for success and the achievement of excellence.
"In many areas the proverbial glass ceilings do appear to have been blown away, but this is not yet the case in every respect," she lamented, noting that too often decisions are taken without ample consideration of the effect they will have on the development and participation of women and girls, or women and children,
In addition, she said the presence of women in several critical leadership and decision-making circles still lags behind that of their male counterparts, "whether through tradition, active opposition on various grounds, or the women themselves remaining unaware or dismissive of the opportunities for advancement that already exist in their communities."
Trinidad and Tobago's first female prime minister said there is a need to encourage the participation of young people as a whole in matters dealing with their own welfare and governance.
"All communities do not face the same challenges nor do they necessarily face them at the same time nor all at once. Consequently, special training of facilitators with the needs women in mind is required to better address their specific development needs, such as for those living and working in rural areas, underprivileged urban settings, and those living in zones of active conflict."
She spoke of her own experience in government where Trinidad and Tobago has become a proponent for "the active consideration and inclusion of gender-sensitive language and approaches in the provisions of legislation, regulations and resolutions."
She said this approach to governance will make sure that the situation or condition of women in particular situations need not remain "their singular plight, but might become a matter of more pressing concern to the national and, where required, international communities as a whole."
1 comment:
"By breaking down barriers that prevent them from achieving their full potential, we can accelerate development, for the benefit of all. Women and girls hold the key to sustained development and improving the lives of others"
Solid point PM!
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