Bahamas Crisis Centre Director Dr. Sandra Dean-Patterson, Pastor Barrington Brennen and others in the audience listen attentively and also participate in the discussion.

The issue of whether women are truly empowered to make decisions that would benefit them in their country, or whether they are still being heavily influenced by men even to their own detriment, became a hot topic at an interactive dialogue session held to commemorate National Women's Week.

The Ministry of Social Services Department of Gender and Family Affairs in collaboration with the University of The Bahamas hosted the interactive dialogue under the theme "Promoting women as equal partners with men in national development".

Discussions ranged from how to promote women and increase their access to resources and opportunities, to how vital information, such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, could be relayed in ways that Bahamians from all walks of life could appreciate.

The session, hosted by Wendell Jones, featured panelists Nicola Virgil Rolle, director of economic development and planning; Dr. Chris Curry, chairperson of the school of social sciences, University of The Bahamas; Ambrosine Huyler, senior manager, Scotiabank; and Director of Youth K. Darron Turnquest.

Naturally, the discussion of the recent referendum and its results and ramifications on the women of The Bahamas came up. The referendum could have brought about more rights for women, yet the tenets were rejected by the voting populace. Jones sought to understand, from the panelists' perspectives, why so many women would vote against efforts to bring about more rights for the women of The Bahamas.

His questions arose after Virgil Rolle, who is spearheading the work on the National Development Plan, declared that women in The Bahamas know what they want, and have a clear understanding of the issues that impact women.
"We are seeing a great understanding and women are very much putting their voices and ideas forward on issues ranging from health, the job market, national disasters, and technology," she said.

If women have such a great understanding, Jones queried, why would women have voted against themselves. "Wouldn't you say that the greatest setback to women in The Bahamas are women themselves?" He asked.

Curry considered the question through the lens of history. He noted that in 1962, the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) won the popular vote, but lost the election. November 26, 1962 was the first time women voted in The Bahamas. He said that, at that time, there was a great deal of pressure on women from their husbands, who warned them that if they voted against the United Bahamian Party (UBP), "don't come home".

"The kind of abuse and fear mongering that you had perpetuated by men at that time, led many women not to vote progressively," he said. In 2016, there were a lot of women who did not align with those progressive goals because they were afraid of their church pastors and community leaders, who warned them against supporting the referendum.

"A lot of times you don't see the allegiance of women, whether black or white together, because of the block... because of these other interest groups that are spreading fear and hate amongst our general population," said Curry.

Turnquest agreed, noting that many church leaders did, indeed, play a big role in affecting women's decisions to vote against their own rights in the referendum.

"There is some nonsense that is said by some churches that shouldn't call themselves churches that facilitate some things that would allow, by virtue of 'the Lord' that women could be treated (poorly); they could be slapped and torn to pieces that way and really and truly the law and government has no place when a man is in charge of the home. These things are unfortunate," he said.

"The same way we treat women in this country is the same way we treat youth in this country," he said. "They have a seat at the table, but not necessarily a voice at the table; and misogyny in this country is real, and women are afraid."

Referring to the Women's Suffrage Movement, Turnquest said that the women during that time took a risk, and it is the same type of risk that women have to be willing to take today.

"For some reason, some women in our country have not understand you have to do the same thing, and that is fight. It is essential that young women, especially here at the University of The Bahamas, begin fighting for themselves. You cannot passively allow your rights to pass you by."

Jones pointed out that Bahamian women have been given many opportunities to empower themselves politically, and for equality under the law, but they voted against themselves.

Huyler, in making her contribution to the discussion, referred to the words of Dame Doris Johnson as she addressed the House of Assembly: "We women press this demand and ask such enactment on the basis, not of what is right, but what is right for our country.

"We are talking here about national development and partnership, and certainly we know what is right.

"You talk about women voting against it, but it is conversations like this that need to take place so we can understand what access and enfranchisement means. What happens in your household is your particular household. But what is right for our country, what is national development what we should all have access to - every citizen - that is something we all have to subscribe to."

"And all members of society have to be involved," Huyler added. "There was a lot of rhetoric around the referendum and not enough contemplation about moving this country forward. Not only women are afraid. As a matter of fact, mostly men were fearful during that referendum."

In spite of the outcome, the Ministry of Social Services and Community Development must continue on its task of bringing to bear the rights of the citizens of The Bahamas in a social sense.

Women play a critical role in the national development of The Bahamas, and Minister Melanie Griffin pointed that out as she addressed the interactive dialogue that was held at the University of The Bahamas Performing Arts Theatre on Monday night.

"From the moment women first exercised the right to vote equally with men on November 26, 1962, they paved the way for a new, more inclusive and independent Bahamas," said Griffin.

"This is what this week is about - remembering the positive and far reaching impact of collective action and looking forward to ensure that women and men continue to work together to build a stronger and more equitable Bahamas."

Minister Griffin added: "Promoting women as equal partners with men stresses the integral nature of inclusiveness and partnership in building a nation. Women make up more than half of the workforce in The Bahamas and a significant number of homes are female-headed. Therefore, it is imperative that we continue to sit at the decision-making table and play an active role in setting the development agenda moving forward, putting forth issues that are relevant to us such as gender-based violence, child care, maternity leave and equality before the law, including in terms of nationality rights."

"Harnessing, strengthening and promoting the full participation of women alongside men is key to the development process. We must continue to work to remove all remaining barriers that inhibit the active engagement of women and girls as well as men and boys in the socio-economic development process."

"Although this may seem as a tall order, I believe that if we persist, we can achieve this noble and essential task of an inclusive, participatory development process as reiterated in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals."

Davinia Blair, vice president of advancement at the University of The Bahamas, noted that solving this national challenge is important to the country; hence, it is important to the university.

"The role of UB is to provide relevant research to help us consider these issues," she said.

"We must present the undeniable justification to insist that we embrace for ourselves the notion of women as equal with men in the responsibility for national development. Here at UB, we see a paradigm at work that calls into question the assertion underlying the title of this panel given that 85 percent of our graduates are young women. The truth is, without them, we cannot envision driving The Bahamas forward."

Felicity Ingraham

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