By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

A LOCAL organisation has called on the seven women elected to the House of Assembly to join its advocacy for the promotion, protection and expansion of all women’s human rights.

In a statement issued yesterday, Equality Bahamas also encouraged all parliamentarians to create a culture of gender sensitivity and publicly acknowledging the diverse and specific experiences of women and girls — including LBTQ+ women, women with disabilities, women experiencing poverty, and women engaged in unpaid care work — and the gender-specific response needed.

All seven of the Progressive Liberal Party’s women candidates — Leslia Brice, Patricia Deveaux, JoBeth Coleby-Davis, Glenys Hanna Martin, Pia Glover-Rolle, Lisa Rahming and Ginger Moxey — were elected to Parliament last week.

“We call on the women in Parliament to recognise women and girls as their shared constituency,” said Alicia Wallace, director of Equality Bahamas.

“A gender-sensitive approach is needed at all levels of governance. This includes engaging constituents, drafting legislation, developing policies, designing and executing programmes and activities and contributing to the national budget.”

The group said the advancement of women and the country does not depend on the seven women but requires all parliamentarians to consider gender dynamics and the specific impact of every action on women and girls and commit to gender equality.

Equality Bahamas said both major political parties in The Bahamas “have contributed to dismal representation” of women, particularly as they each only ratified seven women — 18 percent of their candidates — for the 2021 general election.

Equality Bahamas called on the government to implement a 50 percent quota, requiring gender balance on all political party candidate slates.

“The 2021 election has clearly shown the correlation between representation on party slates and in Parliament, particularly when there is a landslide. Both parties had seven women candidates, and we now have seven women in Parliament. We can set a higher standard and have better outcomes,” Ms Wallace said.

The group said consistent with CEDAW and the Concluding Observations of the CEDAW Committee, the CARICOM Statement Preparatory to CSW 65, Convention Belém do Pará, and the Sustainable Development Goals, the new administration must take action to create an enabling environment for women’s full participation in political life.

Equality Bahamas said it looks forward to appropriate appointments to Cabinet and the Senate, and proper resourcing of the Department of Gender and Family Affairs, including qualified staff with demonstrated commitment to human rights and gender equality.

The group added that it is developing a community-sourced set of Feminist Standards for Governance 2021-2026 which will be delivered to the government and shared with the public in October. It looks forward to engaging with representatives, participating in legal reform and policy making, and ensuring that women, girls, and LGBTQI+ people are able to participate in decision-making processes that affect their lives.

Equality Bahamas is a feminist volunteer-led organisation that promotes women’s and LGBTQI+ people’s rights as human rights.