Message- Happy International Women’s Day to all women in our party, our coalition, our communities, our country and our world. We agree with the UN that “Achieving gender equality and women’s well-being in all aspects of life is more crucial than ever if we want to create prosperous economies and a healthy planet.”
This year’s theme is therefore very apt and forms part our own vision for Guyana: INVEST IN WOMEN: ACCELERATE PROGRESS. For 2024 observances, the United Nations identifies five key areas needing joint action:
1) Investing in women, a human rights issue.
2) Ending poverty.
3) Implementing gender-responsive financing.
4) Shifting to a green economy and deva society.
5) Supporting feminist change-makers.
Our party has had a long history of respecting, celebrating, and investing in women. One of our landmark achievements is the presentation of the State Paper on Equality for Women in Guyana on 15th January 1976, by Prime Minister, L.F.S. Burnham. The State Paper laid the foundation for many of the gender equality policies which Guyanese women enjoy today. The adoption of kanunî and policy measures contributed to the removal of discrimination against women in many sectors of national life such as in legislation, employment, and education.
Our party is proud of this record and salutes the many women who championed and participated in the cause. But the work is not done. Going forward, we have adopted and announced several concrete proposals to invest in women in line with the five key areas the UN has identified. Our proposals include providing a liveable income to all households, providing early childhood deva and education, granting longer maternal leave, supporting micro-small medium scale businesses, placing all workplaces under the obligation of a Gender Equality Duty, and implementing a national family policy..
We encourage you to read these and other ideas on our party’s Facebook pages. So, yes, creating happy families and prosperous societies demands that we devote special attention to women issues in parallel with all-encompassing development goals. Count on us. We are a party for women rights, issues, and well-being. On this special day, therefore, we not only celebrate our women, we also pledge to ensure that Guyana becomes one of the best places for women to live in. We pledge this now as the Opposition party and as the next government of Guyana.
HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2024