Bahamian Women and their Independence in an Independent Bahamas

Bahamian women and their independence
By RUPERT MISSICK JR
rmissick@tribunemedia.net
and NOELLE NICOLLS
nnicolls@tribunemedia.net
Tribune Staff Reporters:


IN AN Independent Bahamas, women, in terms of numbers, represent the most powerful voting block in the country.

Today, there are on average 17,000 more women registered to vote than men.

But in the years since July 10, 1972, and in the nearly 50 years since November 1962 when Ivy Mackey became the first woman to vote in polling station number one in the district of the City of Nassau, have Bahamian women really become empowered?

The country has had female Presidents of the Court of Appeal and Senate, Members of Parliament, Governor Generals, heads of companies, schools and even a Deputy Prime Minister.

Regardless of these material advancements, however, women still do not have the same power to confer citizenship on their offspring as do Bahamian men and in the Bahamas it is still legal to rape your wife.

The truth is the Bahamian woman’s vote is directed in large part by agendas established by men.

Male heads of churches direct their majority female congregations how to vote, male party chairmen, leaders and deputy leaders still direct the programmes of political parties and the legislative agenda of the country when in government.

Perhaps two out of three of the most significant legislative advancements regarding women’s rights, post Independence, the Marital Rape Bill and the 2002 referendum, which would have continued women on the path toward further equality with their male counterparts were shot down because of a lack of support from women themselves.

The third, the 2002 amendments to the Inheritance Bill, which among other things, granted the right to all children born in or out of wedlock to a parent’s assets was passed after much fuss in January of that year.

The Inheritance Bill, unlike the referendum, was not offered for public vote, but it did have the full political will of the government of the day behind it, unlike the case of the Marital Rape Bill.

Mrs Janet Bostwick, the first woman elected to the House of Assembly, said she was shocked when women voted against the referendum.

“I could not believe it when women voted against the referendum. I was absolutely amazed. I think our women were betrayed by those who politicised this most important issue,” she said.

The PLP opposition said if they were elected to office they would bring the issue of constitutional reform back to the people in 90 days, according to Mrs Bostwick. She said that promise was never fulfilled.

“That was the most serious backward step to the advancement of women in my own memory,” said Mrs Bostwick.

“The issue of women's rights was made a totally partisan political issue, and unfortunately that has worked to the disadvantage of women. To put it very bluntly, the PLP were able to persuade their women not to support the referendum; it would have given the FNM too much power. One of the most painful things for me was listening to arch fundamentalist religious people who preached about the supremacy of men at the town hall meetings, and other events to discuss the referendum,” said Mrs Bostwick.

The referendum if passed would have made it possible for a Bahamian woman married to a foreigner to pass on her Bahamian nationality to her children just as a Bahamian man married to a foreigner gives his nationality to his children.

The failure of the implementation of the citizenship and marital rape laws has led many to wonder how far ahead the women’s movement – started by Mrs Mary Ingraham whose group launched the decade long struggle for women to get the vote— has moved.

One cannot blame those who conclude that the suffragette movement in the Bahamas was highjacked by those who saw women gaining the vote as a path to majority rule and political power rather than having anything to do with the advancement of women.

In essence, there exists no movement to advance women’s rights in the Bahamas today because there was never one to begin with.

“The women’s vote was important to get numbers, to get equality for black people. (Equality for women) was not so much a topic. The women had to vote to get a majority rule government that would do more for blacks. It was about the vote numbers, so the struggle for women did not continue. It was gone and it is still gone,” said Wallis Carey, daughter of Eugenia Lockhart, former secretary of the PLP Women’s Branch.

Mrs Lockhart was one of the architects of the 1950s women’s suffrage movement in the Bahamas.

As a college student Mrs Carey assisted her mother by typing the final 1960 petition that was presented to the Secretary for the Colonies in England.

“Women are figureheads now. We are tokens. We don’t have any power base anywhere. The women in the PLP were not thinking that way so they didn’t take it any further. They were thinking about majority rule with the best party that they saw, which was the PLP. There wasn’t much (desire) to take the movement further,” she said.

Mrs Carey said the platform of the PLP leading into the 1962 election, when women were first allowed to vote was “more jobs, more education for everybody.”

She said women’s rights were not advanced as a separate cause, and the necessity for women to vote was based on the racism that existed and not a view that women were discriminated against based on gender.

The year 1960 proved to be a turning point for the movement. The PLP members in the House rallied behind the movement pledging their support in public and in the House of Assembly.

“Sexual harassment was not a topic. Do we want to have more women leadership? That was not a topic for discussion. And it was a while before (the PLP) looked at including women in the Senate and in the power structure,” said Mrs Carey.

The PLP lost the 1962 election, even with the women’s vote. Parliamentary records showed there were 73,907 registered voters at the time. No records exist as to the gender distribution.

They went on to win in 1967.

Mrs Carey said after the defeat, the feeling was that “there was still a lot of work to do; they have to organize more” and then women were only involved “because of the numbers.”

“There is no source of power for women. The women in the suffrage movement were instrumental, they worked very hard, but they didn’t change the country in terms of the power structure,” said Mrs Carey.

Mrs Bostwick, said that the suffrage movement was for the purpose of securing the right to vote and no other issue with regard to women’s rights were raised primarily because many of the suffragists took pains to disassociate themselves from feminists. Conservatism was the ruling mentality at the time.

“Those women who stood out and tried to move aggressively for equal rights were sometimes called derogatory names. They were associated with the feminist movement and that was not something which was looked at in the main with kindness. Even today, and I say this with great pain, there is still some opposition, from some women, to the idea of true equality,” she said.

On some level, even in the late 1950s, the fight for women’s voting rights found itself divided along political lines.

In the history of the Women’s Suffrage Movement in the Bahamas, two women lead the pack, Mrs Mary Ingraham and Dr Doris Johnson.

While Mrs Ingraham, who was a member of the UBP, and her small group of women, were the first to launch the suffragette movement, Dr Doris Johnson on returning from her studies abroad moved in and took over the group after all the spade work had been done. At the time there were those who would say that Mrs Ingraham’s movement, which had succeeded in getting the women’s vote, was highjacked by Dr Johnson of the PLP. Twenty-five years of the PLP government’s retelling of the story of the movement has overshadow — and almost obliterated — Mrs Ingraham’s efforts and achievements in the minds of subsequent generations.

A good example of this was a 1992 advertisement published by the PLP when reference was again made to Dr Johnson and the women’s vote. Ms Ena Hepburn was quoted in the ad as saying: “I remember when women would not vote. That is why I sat down in Bay Street with the late Dame Dr Doris Johnson on Black Tuesday.”

Black Tuesday was on April 27, 1965 by that time Mrs Ingraham had won her fight for women and Bahamian women went to the polls for the first time in 1962.

Post Independence, Mary Ingraham was put in a position where she had to, or certainly felt she had to, fight to have her contribution to women’s suffrage remembered.

The women’s rights movement in the Bahamas spanned little over a decade, from 1950 to 1962.

According to Mrs Ingraham in a 1975 letter to The Tribune— which was a strong supporter of her movement — the first tangible effort made to get women the right to vote was in 1950 when she and a small group circulated a petition typed by Althea Mortimer.

Only 550 signatures were obtained by the late Dr HW Brown, Wilfred Toote, Gladys Bailey, Mary Ingraham and her five children.

The petition was turned over to and presented by AF Adderley and Dr CR Walker to the House of Assembly and Legislative Council.

According to Mrs Ingraham this petition was left on the shelf to die.

A new petition was circulated and in 1958 it was presented to Parliament by Independent MP Gerald Cash in support of the enfranchisement of women in the Bahamas.

The petition contained more than 2,500 signatures.

According to Mrs Ingraham, although she was a UBP, she thought it best that Mr Cash, the independent House member, was the best choice to advance the petition because she did not wish to impose her political beliefs, “not even on my children.”

The vote, which permitted women the vote was taken in February of 1961. While the House passed the bill, the majority UBP beat down the opposition PLP’s attempts to have the bill become effective immediately.

The bill was originally designed to become effective on January 1, 1963, two months after the election which would be held on November of 1962.

Instead the parties compromised to have the bill go into effect on June 30, 1962.

Surprise:

In a move that apparently caught the PLP by surprise the UBP agreed on an amendment that would make it possible for women to sit in the House of Assembly.

Women would not have a seat in the House until 20 years later when Mrs Bostwick was elected as the first female member of the Assembly.

In a November 1975 broadcast during Women’s Week, radio ZNS credited Dr Doris Johnson with getting the vote for Bahamian women.

In November of 1975 Mrs Ingraham wrote a letter published in The Tribune where in essence she pointed out that Dr Johnson only joined the movement in 1958 when she returned from university and the dynamic speech about women’s rights delivered to House members in 1959 was Dr Johnson’s most significant contribution to the effort.

“This is the only part Dr Johnson played in the vote for women,” Mrs Ingraham said.

Perhaps it could be said that Mrs Ingraham’s statement came more out of hurt and anger than fact, but she did feel that her contribution was being diminished because of her political ideology.

In the end Mrs Carey said that the illusion that women are equal to men in Bahamian society is propped up because of “materialism.”

“That is a poor replacement for real autonomy and power. We don’t own anything. We don’t even talk of owning anything. There is a lot to be done and it is not enough to just observe an international day for women,” she said.

Mrs Carey said she thinks the architects of women’s suffrage would have supported the marital rape bill and the right for women to pass on their citizenship.

“The women’s movement has died. I never even hear about it anymore. People talk like all of our issues are the same. There is no movement. We don’t even identify the issues any more that women have.

“We have given up everything to materialism, and we have accepted the worst part of materialism. That was the big thing for the PLP; they said they would make people have more. Have more what? We see materialism through the party we choose. We look at which government is going to give us more material things,” said Mrs Carey.

However, Mrs Bostwick said that there have been many advancements since the 1950s that have helped level the playing field for women, which people take for granted.

“You are talking about a society where women in the public service had to resign if they became pregnant, married or not married. You are talking about a society where even if you were allowed to stay on the job, it did not pay you when you were pregnant. You are talking about a society that did not permit you to divorce for anything but adultery, a society where if a wife committed adultery she was excluded from any share in the matrimonial property. There were so many things which happened to change the status of women in society that I feel there has been great, great advancement,” said Mrs Bostwick.

However, Mrs Bostwick admitted that there is a need to go further.

“Look at the thing with just the inheritance laws. They were so discriminatory against women. You started with a woman if she died without a will her husband to the exclusion of her children and everybody else took all of her personalities (money in the bank, shares, jewellery, furniture, car, clothes). He had a life interest in all of her real property, so that even if she had acquired the house herself and it was in her sole name, he had the right on her death, even if he was estranged, to move in, with his possible mistress, and even put out her children. You had a situation where women could not inherit from their father, mother or parents if there was one lawful son. They could not get anything. All of these things were hurtful laws,” she said.

These laws Mrs Bostwick mentions changed because of the agitation of women, in general and a lot of help from Mrs Bostwick specifically.

Mrs Bostwick was in the attorney general’s office from 1957 to 1974; it was a part of her work, so she was very aware of the laws and painfully aware of the plight of mothers.

“On Friday’s you had a court that dealt with maintenance matters. There was a tamarind tree in the square by the library and there were lines of women waiting under the tree to get the pittance of the maximum of $8.40 per child per week. That was the maximum by law. That remained until I was in Parliament,” she said.


Politics:

If women were to remove politics out of, well their own politics, they might be able to achieve more for themselves. Mrs Bostwick said that if women banded together, they would be able to get everything they needed for themselves.

“The thing is women must themselves want equality. They must truly want it. They will not truly want it unless they are personally feeling the pinch. You will find that you have the most talk about inequality when you are talking about not receiving equal pay for equal work. And it hurts me when I hear some leading professional women, who went against the referendum, now getting on the bandwagon and saying that we must move in the direction of equal pay.

“Philosophical equality is not something the grassroots will be concerned about. It is difficult for people to relate to that and rally around a cause to create change. There needs to be a process of education. You have to start teaching from the school level that we are equal and that discrimination is wrong,” she said.

Mrs Bostwick said that there are not many laws that need to be changed.

“The constitution must outlaw discrimination and it has to be so framed that women and men have equal rights with respect to discrimination on the grounds of sex. The Penal Code needs to be changed. Beyond that most of the changes are social and cultural,” she said.

July 11, 2010

tribune242

Bahamas Blog International

FNM's Women's Association distances itself from senior FNM women's letter to Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham

FNM's Women's Association distances itself from letter to PM
By CANDIA DAMES ~ Guardian News Editor ~ candia@nasguard.com:


The Free National Movement's Women's Association made it clear yesterday that it had no part in a letter written to Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham late last month by a group of senior women in the FNM.

As reported by The Nassau Guardian yesterday, the women who wrote the letter had been trying to cause the appointment of former FNM minister Janet Bostwick as governor general.

The group of senior women also raised concerns about the "disappearance" of FNM women from prominent positions in national life.

The Women's Association said it respects the sole right and privilege of the prime minister to appoint the governor general and congratulated Sir Arthur Foulkes on his appointment to the highest office in the land.

"During his many years of distinguished public service, Sir Arthur helped to pave the way for the greater equality of all Bahamians, including that of women," the association said.

The FNM Women's Association acknowledged "the tremendous" record of Prime Minister Ingraham on behalf of all Bahamian women, including when his efforts were at times unpopular.

"This includes his appointment of women to many significant posts, as well as landmark legislation on a variety of issues related to the ending of discrimination against women," the statement said.

"The FNM Women's Association is proud of our own record and that of the broader FNM with regards to the empowerment of our Bahamian sisters. We will continue to advance the cause of women and families. In this regard, we will also continue to promote excellent female candidates for national office. We will do so as a united group, committed to the great ideals of our party and the values of our founders."

Former FNM Minister Theresa Moxey-Ingraham, who spoke in an interview with The Guardian yesterday, also recognized Sir Arthur's contributions to the party and the nation and stressed that the women who wrote the letter respect him highly and were not attacking him.

The letter was written more than two weeks before his appointment was announced and never mentioned his name. Moxey-Ingraham along with former MPs Italia Johnson (also the first female speaker), and Jaunianne Dorsett and other women in the party signed the letter.

"Sir Arthur has his place in Bahamian history," Moxey-Ingraham said yesterday. "He has his place in the building and forward development of our party and has his place in the hearts of all Bahamians. This was never meant to be an attack on him or his achievements in any way - not at all."

Explaining why the group of women wrote the letter to Ingraham, she said, "As a part of an organization we feel very strongly the need to express our opinion on any matter that is of relevance to our party. We've earned our place and earned the right to speak and we thought it important to do so. We didn't necessarily think we would change his (the prime minister's) opinion. In fact, as we all know, the appointment in many, many instances is the prime minister's appointment and we knew that an appointment had already been made. We felt the need to express how we felt about it."

Moxey-Ingraham said it is unacceptable that there is only one woman in Ingraham's Cabinet — Loretta Butler-Turner, minister of state for social development.

"We had a particular level of national profile and national prominence that has been diminished to a significant degree," she said. "Any empty FNM seats in the Senate have not been filled by women. The two ladies who departed from the Cabinet (Elma Campbell and Claire Hepburn) their positions were filled by men.

"Again, [this is] nothing to do with the achievements or the accomplishments of the men who filled those places. The whole idea though is that if we're talking about a nation where equality is of value then special effort needs to be made to bring women to levels of national prominence, and we are concerned about that in general."

Moxey-Ingraham recognized the role Ingraham played in the advancement of women in The Bahamas, but said the group who wrote to him wants affirmative action for women.

"We were very appreciative that he did respond and what he claimed in the letter is true; those are historical facts. He played a great role in promoting women to positions of prominence, positions of high responsibility and under his first administration women were highly prominent..." she said.

"We still want more. There is so much more to be achieved. Women have so much further to go and they will not be able to get there if they cannot at least get to the first step which is somebody acknowledging that you are worthy and worthwhile [to] move forward."

Asked to expand on the group's claim in its letter that Prime Minister Ingraham had callously dismissed a request for an audience with him, Moxey Ingraham said, "We consider ourselves serious enough. We consider our service serious enough and worthwhile enough to be granted an audience with the party leader... When you get the message back that indicates 'you're not important enough. I can't be bothered with you', that doesn't make you feel very good as a founding member, a prominent member, a serious, hard-working contributor over the years to a party.

"And from a party leader it left us very disappointed."

Moxey-Ingraham said she felt insulted and was not satisfied with the prime minister's response as he did not provide any assurances that this affirmative action will be adopted moving forward.

April 20, 2010

thenassauguardian

Bahamas Blog International

Ranking Women in the FNM have expressed alarm to PM Hubert Ingraham over the "disappearance of FNM women in prominent levels of national life"

FNM women hit out
By CANDIA DAMES ~ Guardian News Editor ~ candia@nasguard.com:


Several senior women in the Free National Movement have expressed alarm to Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham over the "disappearance of FNM women in prominent levels of national life", and said they are offended by his "callous dismissal" of their recent bid to meet with him to discuss the appointment of a governor general.

The women said they had recently become "very concerned" about several matters related to the functioning and public face of their party.

They failed in their efforts to convince the prime minister, who heads the FNM, to appoint former Cabinet minister Janet Bostwick to the high post.

Instead, Ingraham chose Sir Arthur Foulkes, who was sworn in last Wednesday.

In a letter dated March 29, 2010, the women wrote to Ingraham that they wished to express their opinions on the appointment that had been looming.

Their letter came before any announcement was made regarding Sir Arthur's appointment.

"Miss Italia Johnson (former Speaker of the House) reported to us that upon asking for an audience with you on our behalf, you told her that you had no need to be 'lobbied' on the matter," the women wrote.

"We write to express our extreme disappointment and dismay regarding this response and to say that we are offended at your callous dismissal."

Johnson and former FNM MPs Theresa Moxey-Ingraham and Jaunianne Dorsett were among the women who signed the letter to the party's leader.

The women said, "We have always considered ourselves much more than mere lobbyists in this great organization. In fact, history will reflect that from its inception, we have all played pivotal roles in the growth and development of this party and that we have successfully performed in every role.

"...We have worked diligently at every conceivable level of this party with the exception of leader, and we have carried our fair share of the burdens, responsibilities and blame that has gone into the building of a strong and successful political party.

"We are offended by the very term 'lobby'."

The women said they believe the appointment of Bostwick, an "iconic" woman in the party, to the office of governor general "is an opportunity for our party to regain some of the political prominence we enjoyed as an organization which respects and celebrates the contribution of women."

They said that in recent years, what had been perceived as a 'golden age' of prominence for FNM women in public life has turned into a wilderness period.

The women said that their numbers in Cabinet have been reduced; their numbers in the Senate have been reduced; few women have been appointed as chair or deputy of major public boards and committees, and true progress and prominence for the women in the party appears to have been stalled and "we have been dismissed and cast aside."

But in a response dated April 8, the party's leader failed to agree that FNM women were being cast aside.

"Each of you have held office in either our party or in governments which I have been privileged to lead between 1990 and 2002 and again from 2005 to the present," Ingraham wrote.

"You are no doubt aware that my dedication to equality of the sexes is not transitory nor politically motivated but rather fundamental to my belief system.

"I have never appointed women to positions of leadership or responsibility so as to appease a political faction or pander to any group. Women who serve in my administrations are held to the same standard as are their male colleagues. I have seldom been disappointed with the commitment of women to getting the job done and done well."

Ingraham told the women that he shared their view that Bostwick is worthy of every accolade that the party and government can offer, given her long years of service to the party and the party's cause of national political reform and social and economic advancement for Bahamians.

"Mrs. Bostwick was a valuable member of my Cabinet for 10 years," he noted.

"You should be aware that Mrs. Bostwick is fully aware of my personal high regard for her and of my gratitude and appreciation to her for her service to our party and to our country."

Ingraham said, "One of my greatest disappointments in public life has been my inability, and that of our party, to cause the majority of the adult Bahamian population to support the equality of the sexes in law and in practice.

"I am totally committed to the promotion of women and women's rights in our country. As the father of four daughters I can have no other view..."

Ingraham also said no one regrets more than he the dearth of women elected to the House of Assembly in the most recent general election.

"Indeed, it appeared as if we as a nation took a step backward when so many qualified and dedicated women offered by us to the electorate were rejected at the polls in 2007."

There is currently only one woman in Ingraham's Cabinet — Loretta Butler-Turner.

The only other female FNM MP is Verna Grant, who represents in Eight Mile Rock.

The Progressive Liberal Party has three female MPs — Cynthia 'Mother' Pratt, Glenys Hanna-Martin and Melanie Griffin.

In his letter to the FNM women, Ingraham said the fight to gain wide support and recognition of women must be fought in every corner of society.

"The victory will not come from political appointment but from genuine acceptance of women as viable political leaders," he said.

Referring to the controversial Marital Rape Bill, Ingraham said, "Since 2007 we have not been able to build a groundswell of support to afford married women the same level of protection against abuse by a spouse that is extended by law today to prostitutes."

The prime minister outlined his role and that of his administration — past and present — in advancing the cause of women in The Bahamas, including the appointment of the first female governor general and first female Speaker of the House of Assembly.

He ended his letter to the FNM women by advising that he proposed to appoint Sir Arthur governor general.

"Sir Arthur, who sacrificed much and who suffered long and hard in the political trenches of our country, all in the interest of furthering the cause of the Free National Movement, is now in his 80s," Ingraham wrote.

"I do not believe that we can properly postpone national recognition of his life work and sacrifice. He is most deserving of this tribute of respect and I trust that he will have the full support of the senior women of the Free National Movement."

In addition to the former female FNM MPs, the March 29 letter to Ingraham was signed by Patricia Johnson, Margaret Rodgers, Erma Williams and Althea Sands.

Apart from the "disappearance" of women in prominent positions in national life, they did not elaborate on any other concerns in their letter to their party leader.

April 19, 2010

thenassauguardian

Bahamas Blog International