Prime Minister Perry Christie said yesterday people cannot mischaracterize the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) "for what it represents in its history for women in this country".
Christie defended his party's record on the advancement of women in the face of ongoing public outrage over recent comments Tall Pines MP Leslie Miller made in the House of Assembly.
Miller said on February 20 he used to beat an ex-girlfriend. Yesterday, he apologized in the House of Assembly for those remarks.
After Miller's apology, House Speaker Dr. Kendal Major admonished MPs to be "mindful of the spoken word".
He said he sees the Miller controversy as a "teachable moment".
Speaking to the "tragedy" of Miller's "misstatements", the prime minister expressed regret that the MP's "courage has suddenly been brought into question".
He then spoke broadly about his party and highlighted the Suffragette Movement and its key players, many of whom he said were spouses of the leaders of the PLP.
"Throughout the testing times in our history our women stood tall and stood strong," said Christie, before pointing to the women in Parliament today, whom he described as the "inheritors of the legacy".
Christie said they have always spoken up for the rights of women.
"This, Mr. Speaker, is not something I would want to ever have to discuss again," he said.
"These women in their public life easily speak for themselves through their own history, through their own meaning in public life, through the way in which they conduct themselves; it speaks for itself."
Christie pointed out that the PLP produced the first female deputy prime minister, Cynthia "Mother" Pratt, and the first female chairman of a political party, Glenys Hanna-Martin.
"There is no question about the honor in history of the Progressive Liberal Party," he stressed.
Speaking of Miller's comments, Christie said, "All of us on our feet make mistakes."
The prime minister said while traveling back to The Bahamas from a CARICOM meeting in St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Wednesday he considered whether he should "get into fisticuffs".
"And as I go to these countries in the region," he added, "I always say 'thank you, Jesus I'm prime minister of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.
"And that I don't have the challenges that some of my brother prime ministers and sister prime ministers have in the region, that we come from a blessed country, and that I don't need to in my 40th consecutive year in public life to prove anything to anybody over there (the opposition) when it comes to my personal ability, my personal conduct."
The comments the prime minister made in the House of Assembly last evening were his first public comments on the Miller controversy.
Miller has faced a firestorm ever since The Nassau Guardian reported his statements last week Wednesday.
The MP's initial response was to lash out at The Guardian in the House and demand an apology.
But he eventually apologized in the face of public outrage and said he visited The Bahamas Crisis Centre yesterday and donated $1,000 to its work.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian