Digicel in celebration of International Women’s Day selected and recognized 6 of Anguilla’s Extraordinary Women for their hard work, success and contributions to Anguilla. On Monday March 7th 2016, Digicel invited the women to its corporate office – in Rock Farm – to be among its female employees for a ceremony and formal presentation. The women chosen were: Twyla Richardson Thomas, Marissa Hughes, Gilda Gumbs Samuel, Dr. Linda Banks, Shellicia Brooks Johnson and Kay Gumbs.
Kerchelle Jn Charles, Head of Commercial Operations, began the ceremony: “Anguilla, the Caribbean and the world will celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievement of women. The theme for this year’s international Women’s Day celebration is ‘Pledge for Parity’. As a nation, we are expected as individuals pledging to move from talk to purposeful action – and with men and women joining forces – we can collectively help women as well as young women to advance and show limitless potential equally in schools, at colleges and universities, in the work place, in our communities and the world over. So are we ready to accelerate gender parity in Anguilla! On behalf of the management and staff of Digicel, we would like to recognize and applaud the contribution of these 6 women we have identified today. We want to thank you for support to the young women, young adults and the Anguillian community at large.”
Mrs. Shellecia Brooks Johnson spoke on the significance of women in the community and touched on the overall theme for International Women’s Day, ‘Pledge for Parity’. She enlightened the staff with a story about her time in university and her experiences with her Muslim friends: “Even on this side of the world, that is Anguilla, North America, South America and Europe, we have not achieved full gender parity. We still do not have gender balanced leadership; in some places men and women’s contributions are not equally valued and in some countries there are still conscious and unconscious biases”. She charged the group to lead the campaign for gender parity.
The Digicel team was inspired by her speech and made a pledge to be Extraordinary Women making a difference and standing out in the community.
Mr. Colwayne Pickering of Digicel observed: “Woman are important to every facet of the community and corporate life. It is humbling to see women of all ages in Anguilla excelling in every area. Companies need to do more, communities need to do more and our country needs to do more to ensure we recognize, promote and propel our women to their highest potential. I am pleased to honour these six women of our community, today, for their role in being exemplary in showcasing what women can and should aspire to.”
