NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Services and Urban Development Lisa T. Rahming, told Parliament last week that she fully supports the United Nations’ plans to level the playing field for women in politics.
“I also encourage this Administration to continue to do all that we can to assist in removing the structural and social barriers that prevent the goal of levelling the playing field in politics from being fulfilled,” Rahming said in a contribution to the Lower House.
“I was certainly inspired to continue to push for women to fully and meaningfully participate in politics. It is only through equal political representation that we will always ensure that women’s rights and women’s issues are given the attention and resources that they so deserve. We won’t stop until the glass ceiling comes crashing down and women can enter politics fully empowered.”
Rahming provided an update to House members on her participation at the UN General Assembly’s Sixty-Sixth Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW66) held at United Nations Headquarters in New York, USA.
Rahming was accompanied to New York by Mr. Joel Lewis, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Social Services an Urban Development; Dr. Calae Philippe, Director, Department of Gender and Family Affairs; Ms. Kim Sawyer, Acting Director, Department of Social Services; Mrs. Angelique Nairn-Dennis, Director, Urban Renewal Commission; Dr. Sheena Archer-Moss, Consultant, Urban Renewal Foundation; Mrs. Lilliemae Longley, Operations Manager, Urban Renewal Commission, and Ms. Elaine Sands, Gender Expert, Department of Gender and Family Affairs.
According to Rahming, a speak session was held to discuss ending violence against women in politics that was particularly meaningful.
She said: “Madame Speaker, of special note to yourself and the other women seated here as well as all women who have presented themselves as candidates throughout the country, there was a Special Session held to discuss ending violence against women in politics. It was no surprise at all to hear the appalling stories of sexism, harassment and violence that women who enter politics experience around the globe.
Rahming continued: “Many of these experiences sound eerily familiar to what women in The Bahamas have encountered. Vicious rumours and slanders and public rejections, cyber-bullying and bias that hinder women from fulfilling their full potential.”
The state minister said her attendance, and that of the delegation that accompanied her, afforded Bahamian officials to hold discussions with representatives from global and other regional, Small Island Developing States.
She said US Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, was among the global women leaders she held discussion with.
“We discussed women’s issues, but we also discussed broader issues relative to US/Bahamas relations as well as the need to address climate change; the US commitment to providing free vaccines to the world,” Rahming said.
Thomas-Greenfield thanked The Bahamas for its support of the UN General Assembly Resolution to condemn Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, she said.
Rahming also met with France’s Minister for Gender Equality, Diversity and Equal opportunities, Elisabeth Moreno, along with officials from Mexico, the Maldives and Morocco to discuss their cooperation to advance women’s rights around the world.
Rahming said she also engaged in a plethora of bi-lateral meetings with regional counterparts, including Guyana, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and so many others.
“Madame Speaker, it was an eventful trip that I believe, allowed The Bahamas’ voice to be heard on the world’s largest stage in the conversation on women’s rights and violence against women,” she said.
“We must continue to push for equality; we must continue to fight oppression, sexism and abuse and we must not rest until our women and little girls are living in a world that is truly equal. It is only then that we can say our work is done.”
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