PM Urges Women to Embrace Leadership Role

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller, has called on women to “stand up” and embrace their role as leaders.

She said that women are leaders in the family, the church, in business and other professions, in politics, in academia and “we must use that leadership role to contribute to the development, not only of self, but the wider community, and our nation, as a whole.”

Prime Minister, in a message read by Minister with responsibility for Information, Senator the Hon. Sandrea Falconer on Thursday, June 6, at a public lecture held on the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona campus, also underscored the need for women to play a more integral role in mentoring a new generation of female leaders.

This, she said, is integral for their personal progress and for them to participate in the development of their communities and country.

Mrs. Simpson Miller said despite considerable advances made by women in a range of endeavours for many years, they are still not given the full recognition they deserve, particularly by their male counterparts.

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“The fact that women continue to make a positive impact in every society, the transformational potential of women leaders, at all levels, self, community, and country, is yet to be fully realised,” she contended.

She stated that women have a responsibility to “activate fields of support and establish strategic, cooperative partnerships, which can remove the remaining barriers.”

She commended the Mona School of Business Management for partnering with the UWI’s Institute of Gender and Development Studies and the Women’s Leadership Initiative to host the lecture, aptly titled: ‘Women’s leadership: Transforming Self, Community and Country.’

UWI Pro Vice Chancellor and Principal of the Mona Campus, Professor Gordon Shirley, in his remarks, said the lecture aimed to heighten public awareness about the importance of gender equality in leadership; promote the principles and practices of transformational female leadership; and inspire, encourage and empower Jamaican women, at all levels, to “embrace their roles as leaders, (in order) to support the process of national development.”

Guest presenter, United States Ambassador to Jamaica, Her Excellency Pamela Bridgewater, delivered a wide ranging presentation, which examined the reasons women are marginalised, and offered solutions to effectively eradicating gender discrimination.

The lecture also featured presentations by United States Agency for International Development Mission Director in Jamaica, Denise Herbol; and Public Affairs Chief at the United States Embassy, Yolanda Kerney.

Contact: Douglas McIntosh