A Green Corn Row of Lovers

Introduction

In his poem, “It was the Women,” the Poet Elliot Roache sings a praise song to women. In one picturesque verse he says, “It was the women who restored us,” and described them as a “Green Corn Row of Lovers.” They love enough to accept the challenges of leadership.

This love became very evident as the stories of three (3) women in politics unfolded, tales of courage and determination. They came from different walks of life, had no script to follow other, than the lives of women before their time who had resisted the atrocities of their day and fought for social justice. They had too, the obstacles of the living script of the male way of functioning, which the voting public willingly embraced rather than dig a little deeper into the lives of the heroic survivors of the “mad slave system.”

The Workshop organized by the Caribbean Policy Development Centre (CPDC), the Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action (CAFRA), the National Council of Women (NCW) and the Committee for the Development of Women (CDW) was designed to honour female politicians past and present, and build skills for effective representation.

The specific objectives were to:

1. To create a pool of women candidates and provide a support system for all women in politics and assist women in preparing themselves as viable candidates for the political arena.

2. To create a supportive environment for female politicians.

3. To facilitate effective communication among women on an individual, organizational, local and regional level, confronting issues of power relations among women with respect to class, colour, race and gender.

4. To bring together women in politics in a non-partisan atmosphere and provide training, or assist them in acquiring/sharpening/honing their skills in the areas of political campaigning and gender-sensitive public policy formulation.

Warrior Women

Every country has its unsung heroines, brought to life as the women’s movement unearthed their stories.

In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, two early warrior women are Bertha Mutt and Elma Francois. One changed the standard of living in her native country. The other was an example of people integrating the region as she took her struggle to another island.

In 1935, a series of riots spread through the Caribbean, as the poor looked for better livelihoods. When the price of matches was increased by 1%, it was Bertha Mutt, the Market Vendor who led the protest march on the House of parliament and into the Prisons. As a result, there was a Commission of Inquiry into the living conditions of the poor.

In 1897, Elma Francois was born in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. She initially earned her living in the cotton fields. She had a deep concern for the suffering and way of life of her people. So she attempted to organize the workers at the Cotton Finery and was fined. She migrated to Trinidad and Tobago in 1919, where she was employed as a domestic worker. Elma Francois became a member of the Trinidad Working Men’s Association and from that centre was an organizer of hunger marches on the Red House, the Seat of Government. She become the visionary force in the Negro Welfare Cultural and Social Organization and led the fight against homelessness, unemployment, discrimination, working hours and involvement of the Caribbean in war. For her contribution to people’s livelihoods, Elma Francois was named a National Heroine of Trinidad and Tobago on September 27, 1987, forty-three years after her death.

There was a fire inside these warrior women, leading them to action. This same fire burned in Valcina Ash, a business woman, who was the second woman to contest national elections in St. Vincent and the Grenadines in 1983. In her own words, Mrs. Ash “saw the needs of people, the suffering and poverty.” Her shop was a centre for buying basic items, as well as to exchange views. When the ruling party asked her to contest, she thought she could make a contribution to improved conditions of life.

She remembers that she had little support from the Central Party, she was thrown into the lions den. Rather it was the community women who rallied around her, contributing their resources. For example, each supporter would bring a T-shirt for stencilling with her slogan.

The campaign trail was difficult, as persons threatened to assault her and used very violent and slanderous language. She, however, stuck to her message of improved conditions for the poor and with meagre resources, she gained the confidence of the majority and secured the necessary votes to win the seat. She was however, never given a Ministerial Position. In the following election, she lost by a narrow 125 votes.

Mrs. Ash’s bravery has left her well respected in her community, still opening opportunities for her villagers. She proved that in order to win a seat, it was not necessary to have a lot of money to give bribes, and purchase alcohol as the men were doing. Yet, she never got a chance to perform at Ministerial level. She learnt that women had to use a number of strategies to attain their objectives because men usually assumed that women are weak. The most useful qualities in her experience were good moral standing, trustworthiness, tact, consistent follow-up, a fighting spirit, courage, and a strong capacity to ignore insults. None of this would sustain you if you lack a clear vision and appropriate strategies to make it a reality. Needless to say, this is only accomplished by working tirelessly without rest. Valcina had two kinds of experiences facing the polls. The first time was in a by-election and the second in a national election. In both instances the strength of one’s party had a lot of impact on the chances of success. Not everyone behaves the same, but definitely during a by-election all the party’s energy is focused on the single candidate whereas in a national situation it is largely everyone fighting to win on their own. In their different ways both elections are very intense. A major weakness of the electors was their tendency to believe propaganda while candidates had to guard against taking bribes, especially when one needed several items of promotional materials to carry out the campaign.

The Praise Singers

Amor Lashley confesses to a deep love for people and love for her country. After spending several years in Canada, she returned to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, with a zeal to serve her country. She became the Public Relations Officer for the then Ruling Party and eventually rose to be the Deputy Chairperson of the Party.

Amor Lashley had full support of the Party, holding as she did a powerful position. She recalls that people were very receptive to her message and herself as a person. She observed that people were also deceptive, as this receptivity did not translate into votes. She failed to win her seat. In her view, failure was due in part to the fact that the Women’s Movement had not endorsed and supported the women candidates. She has decided to leave politics and enter the Church, as she continues her career as a Home Economist. One of the lessons this woman learnt from her experience was that it was important to have one’s own resources because usually the party has very little. It was definitely in a candidate’s favour to lay the ground work of one’s campaign for at least a year before contesting the election. This would allow time to educate the electorate to treat the vote as a responsibility to exercise as a citizen and not a commodity to be sold.

Some of the issues that women in politics face are the devaluing of women’s contributions. These were usually done through unkind comments as for example, the prediction that she will go back to the kitchen after the election. Managing parenting responsibilities, finding cash, and not having the encouragement and support of the women’s movement, were real challenges for her.

The Worker

Andrea Young, a “Worker Woman,” is a young woman who made great steps, in spite of her youth and gender. She was involved in the constituency as a member of a party group, working with an aspiring female candidate. She advanced up the ranks from a member of the youth arm and the women’s arm to become the Assistant Secretary General of the Party, a very challenging role.

All this was happening during 1999 when her party was still in opposition. She was also elected to the Manifesto Committee to help shape a policy on women. The electorate was restless with the party that had been in power for seventeen years. Change was in the air.

Personal change took her overseas on a lucrative contract. Nationally, change ushered in the opposition party and she was asked to make another change. She gave up a good contract and returned to St. Vincent and the Grenadines to serve two years as a senator for youth affairs. In the Feburary 2003 cabinet reshuffle her appointment ended.

Andrea found her political involvement and stint in Parliament very challenging. In the first place it was a tremendous responsibility for her as a young women, especially as she discovered that being a senator did not give her opportunity and resources to do practical interventions that people expected of her.

Her role was limited to speaking on bills and other matters under debate. Her exposure to the women’s workshops held by NGOs taught her that issues for women have not changed and the need for champions to represent these causes.

She was not at all considering a candidacy because she found the slurs cast at women in politics very disgusting. For example, many felt that she was too young to be in Parliament. She did not intend to run but she did not have the money to invest in campaigning, felt that both men and women on either side of the house needed a support system to enable them to function effectively in the House. The rules should be changed to give Senators and Parliamentarians generally a more practical role, their functions and responsibilities should be clearly inculcated through training and they should have more power. Andrea Young finds the slanderous remarks of women at public meetings to be most disturbing. It is destructive and offensive. Her question is “Why do women want to emulate this male attitude? “What training can be done to change this behaviour?”

Challenges Facing Potential Women Candidates

In the history of Electoral Politics in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, only fifteen women have contested National Elections, of this number, seven won their seats. All were members of the Ruling Party.

The question was asked of the women interviewed – “What do you see as some of the reasons for failure at the polls?” Their responses are summarized as follows:-

1. Some women feel that they are not capable of performing the duties of elected office.

2. Some would not consider giving up their “good” jobs to enter politics.

3. Family would not support the decision.

4. Politics is too dirty and ugly.

5. The public assassination, which seems to be reserved for women only.

6. The selection process by men that tends to bypass women.

7. Political Parties have no policy of mandatory female candidates.

8. lack of mechanisms to prepare women for candidacy.

9. The attitude that women should be at home nurturing partners and children.

The women briefly described, all have a deep love for justice. They are indeed a “Green Corn Row of Lovers – resilient.” The strength of purpose has not died. Society has failed to honour the women, and the women have failed to ask for more. They have rather retreated into their wells and may bite and devour each other. The twenty-five participants at the workshop agreed that there is a need for further training. The organizers have made a commitment to continue the process. Elliot Roache in his praise song to the women, insists that he will die maintaining this. “It was the women who restored us.” How can we in turn restore the women to their place of honour?