Minister of Transport and Aviation Glenys Hanna-Martin announces the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) Conference. (BIS Photo/Kris Ingraham)
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Nassau, The Bahamas -- Twenty-six delegates from the region will
attend the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) Conference in Nassau,
scheduled for May 22 - 23. The theme for the meeting is "WOMEN: The Voice,
The Vote, The Victory."
Minister of Transport and Aviation Glenys Hanna-Martin, in
announcing the conference on May 12, stated The Bahamas' pride in being the
host for the two-day event.
"It's a regional conference of the Caribbean, Atlantic and
the Americas region of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Women's Association,
which is the female branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.
It has numerous objectives, but it has what has really become a singular
objective. And it is to see how we can cause for more women to be
represented in parliaments throughout the world," said Minister
Hanna-Martin.
She said the CWP has invited delegates from all over the region
to attend, from the Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Trinidad and Guyana, among other
countries. She said this conference is about the deepening of Democracy.
"We will also be inviting, to buffer our efforts, NGOs that
will have a focus on women's affairs, so we can come together on the first day
in open session with various panelists that will include members from the
region and Bahamian parliamentarians."
Minister Hanna-Martin said the NGOs will be included to help
fuel the dialogue, to see what the issues are, what are the hinderances to
women coming forward and serving in parliament and government, the singular
most powerful place, in terms of political power.
The second day of the meeting will be a closed session, to
provide for the creation of a regional steering committee, in order to form a
caucus responsible for the chief
objectives to allow more women access to serving in parliaments. A second objective
is to create a strategic action plan, which is expected to create the blueprint
for strategies that will cause more women to come forward in parliament.
"We believe that key to this process is not just numbers,
that with women will come a voice, and that voice will speak more to the humane
issues that this planet faces and our country faces, including issues of
poverty, education, access to healthcare, issues of violence in our country,
domestic violence, random violence, all forms of violence. And so, we
believe that a greater or more proportionate representation of women in
parliament will bring balance in numbers and ethos in parliament," said
Minister Hanna-Martin.
