International Women’s Day was celebrated with humour, reverence, compassion and pride Thursday.
Guest speaker at the International Womens Day 2007, Sophia Harris. Photo: Elphina Magona |
Around 90 people attended the observance of IWD held at Casanovas by the Sea restaurant, hosted by the Women’s Resource Centre during its Honouring Women Month activities.
MC Cynthia Arie welcomed attendees to the lunchtime celebrations. Among the chief guests present were the Cayman Minister of Health and Human Resources Anthony Eden; Leader of Government Business Kurt Tibbetts and Acting Chief Officer of Health Lenard Dilbert.
Led in prayer by Darleen Glidden, attendees gave spirited renditions of both the National Anthem and the National Song, led by the soaring vocals of Sylvia Wilks.
This year’s International Women’s Day address was given by Mr. Eden. His speech noted the many contributions of women throughout Cayman society. He remarked that IWD observance, part of the overall celebrations within Honouring Women Month, focused attention on equality, justice, peace and development around the world.
‘This year the United Nations has chosen an uncompromising theme – ‘Ending Impunity for Violence against Women and Girls’ that fully acknowledges the seriousness of this issue.
‘In the Cayman Islands we strive for zero-tolerance of domestic violence with initiatives such as the recent domestic violence training, undertaken by representatives from both the public and private sectors,’ he said.
He advised that continuing disparities between men and women such as unequal pay and unpaid labour was nothing short of an attack on the integrity of society.
‘It is the duty of my ministry to provide the strongest framework possible to support gender equity, as well as gender equality. We will do this by strategically reviewing and revising policies and programmes to ensure that they are gender sensitive,’ he said.
Mr. Eden said that turning policies into action require the continued commitment of government and non-governmental bodies.
He agreed with the UN pronouncement that societies’ problems cannot be resolved without the full participation and empowerment of women and commended the pioneering work of the Women’s Resource Centre in improving gender relations.
Attendees then listened to performances of students from John Gray High School’s Drama Department.
Kishna Burke performed Bleach it Licke More by Jamaican poet Joan Andrea Hutchinson. Elizabeth Myles performed a self-penned piece called Soul-istry and Kierstin Stewart performed Memba Well written by Nasaria Suckoo Chollette.
This part of the celebrations included a reading of the poem ‘Women’s Creed’ by Norma Hardy by President of the Business and Professional Women’s Club Annie Moulton.
Founding partner of local law firm Solomon Harris, Sophia Harris (nee Solomon), was the International Women’s Day 2007 guest speaker.
The mother, wife and employer is a council member of the Cayman Islands Law Society and is a past member of the Islands’ Bar Association and lists being the first female president of the Rotary and a past president of the Chamber of Commerce among her many voluntary duties. She has several directorships and is chairwoman for the Immigration Department’s Business Staffing Plan Board and sits on the Immigration Review Team for the review of the Immigration Law 2003.
Mrs. Harris’s well-received speech drew largely from her experiences, both good and bad as an advocate, Rotarian and woman in a largely male-dominated world and used humour to great affect in showing the commonality of women’s lives.
Director of the Women’s Resource Centre Tammy Ebanks Bishop then took to the dais and spoke about the Honouring Women Month Display before its unveiling.
Focusing on the HWM theme of Celebrating Our Diversity the display, both visually and pictorially, showed the many dimensions of women’s lives. A collaborative effort by both the WRC and the Cayman Islands National Museum, the director advised that the display would tour districts throughout HWM.
The winners of the HWM photography and poetry competitions were also announced.
The IWD observance closed with a sumptuous buffet and refreshments overlooking George Town Harbour.
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