Today I am honored as always to join women around the world in celebrating each other.
This year we celebrate under the theme “Press for Progress”.
I wish to share my initial thoughts as I saw this theme. Firstly, it is a call to action and it is a call to progress meaning to move forward.
In these Turks and Caicos Islands, we can easily fall into a trap of believing that we have arrived having over the years being celebrating more and more women in non traditional fields and rising to the top. But what we must be careful to do is not stop pushing for women in every field, in every aspect of life and to then do so together. Progress progresses when there is greater unity and togetherness and celebration of each other.
I was delighted to be a part of honoring and surprising women from all walks of life this week and I say congratulations to the many first ladies in TCI and especially those caught this year in the web of surprise: Mrs Almaida Wilson our first female Prison Superintendent, Miss Edith Cox, first female and local CPA, Ms Josephine Robinson, first female Post Mistress, Dr Linda Williams, first female Director of Education, Mrs Tina Fenimore, first female to own and operate a Hotel, Ms Shirley Morgan and Ms Rosita Smith, the eldest females employees in the private and public, Mrs Wendy Been, first female Architect, Miss Thomas and Miss Hamilton, first female Mechanical and Civil Engineer, Mrs Corena Walkin, first sports medalist overseas, and Dr Anniest Hamilton, first female Doctor. There is more to celebrate as we continue in the month of March recognising our first ladies. Kudos women in all spheres of life, you are a leader whether in your home or outside your home and we see you each day and we celebrate you.
We must therefore put off the old tale against us of not being our sister’s keepers. We must understand that there are things that we can only do and we can do it much better together.
I encourage us to strengthen the sisterhood. I am strengthened daily by the strong women in my life: my mother, my sisters, my daughters and my sisters. Strong women remain the backbone of the Party that I lead and strong women are planted throughout the Government and those on which I rely to deliver on the change for my people. We are a country of strong women and we must use this for the greater good.
I wish to encourage each of us this day that causes the world to stop and notice us, we each have our struggles but that is what makes us strong. I truly believe that women are not built to break: We endure, we stretch but we bounce back. We must remember that no one has to endure what women do even when we create beautiful life, we carry load and great pain but we are a part of a beautiful process: we birth nations and nurture mankind. Let us put our gender’s strength to work and build these Islands wherever it is that God has planted us; let us grow whilst watering each other.
I wish for us all a wonderful International Women’s Day on behalf of the Government of the TCI especially myself and the Hon Karen Malcolm. May God continue to bless us all.
