Shortlisting Completed for Prime Minister’s Diamond Jubilee Awards

The Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport has completed the shortlisting for the Prime Minister’s Diamond Jubilee Awards, which will recognise 30 women and 30 men who have done significantly well in developing Jamaica.

This is being done as one of the celebratory activities under the Jamaica 60 celebrations.

Portfolio Minister, Hon. Olivia Grange, made the disclosure as she opened the debate on a Motion in the House of Representatives on December 6, calling for the amendment of the Standing Orders, to establish the Bicameral Caucus of Women Parliamentarians.

“The Prime Minister will not just honour 30 women in January; he will also honour 30 men, because it’s about partnership. It’s about ensuring that we have gender equality. In total, 60 men and 60 women will be honoured, but phase one will be on the 20th of January,” Ms. Grange said.

She also informed that Jamaica’s first woman Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller and Dr. Mavis Gilmour, former Minister of Education and Member of Parliament for St. Andrew West Rural will be receiving special awards for their contributions to more than seven of the 15 priority areas that are used to select nominated Jamaicans for their contributions to Jamaica’s national development plan, the Beijing Platform for Action and the Sustainable Development Goals.

“It is this proud legacy of women such as the Most Hon. Mrs. Simpson Miller and Dr. Gilmour that we, the women in Parliament, conscious of the role we play in leading transformational change for women across the board in this country, have been prepared to bridge all political divides as part of the effort to work for the betterment of women in Jamaica,” Ms. Grange said.

“We are proud of the large number of women who now participate actively in the political life of our nation and are assured that it will only be meaningful to all women if we are prepared, when the occasion arises, to bridge the partisan divide and caucus together for the rights, freedoms and upward mobility of our women,” she added.

Ms. Grange said country-wise, women can be pleased with the work that has been put in on the various policy areas facing women and development.

“We are pleased to support the commitments of the guiding principles in the National Policy for Gender Equality (NPGE), 2011, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW, 1984), the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women – Belem do Para, Convention and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, particularly regarding the issue of enabling gender equality in the Jamaican society,” she stated.

Meanwhile, Ms. Grange said women who are in the House are held to a greater responsibility to ensure that the needs of girls and women in society are reflected in the
legislative agenda in the country.

She noted that the journey of meeting as women across the chambers has already yielded outcomes, adding that as a core, they have all agreed on the following objectives of the caucus.

The objectives include facilitating networking, building solidarity, and promoting constructive dialogue on issues of importance among women parliamentarians across party lines and Chambers; and providing caucus members with professional development opportunities to further strengthen their leadership and their capacities to participate in the legislative process in a gender-responsive manner.

There are also the raising of awareness on gender equality and the importance of women’s leadership among all parliamentarians and parliamentary staff, as well as among the general public, including by raising the visibility of women leaders in all spheres and sectors of society and supporting capacity-building across the Parliament in gender mainstreaming and gender-responsive budgeting and costing and encouraging the application of these tools in parliamentary work.

Other aims include undertaking reviews of select legislation from a gender perspective to understand their impact on gender equality themes or with differential impacts on individuals of different genders and engaging in advocacy and lobbying on specific priority policy themes to be identified on a periodic basis, in accordance with national needs and outlined in the caucus’ work plan.

Debate on the Motion was suspended and will continue at the next sitting of the House of Representatives.