On Wednesday 8th March, as part of Women’s Week, a small group of women met at the CIBC First Caribbean International Bank in The Valley. The event was attended by a few female students of the Albena Lake Hodge Comprehensive School and the female staff of the bank. Ms. Susan Hodge, an accomplished woman in her field, spoke in relation to the International Women’s Day theme, “Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 BY 2030”.
The event provided an intimate atmosphere where the ladies discussed gender equality and stereotypes in the world and how it affects women of Anguilla. The discussion also included the difference between gender and sex, occupational segregation and gender wages, and the representation of women in politics.
Ms. Hodge took the opportunity to urge the women to join a trade union to have their voices heard, and to be aware of legislation that affects them in the work environment and daily life. She concluded with the words of reggae legend Jimmy Cliff: Women “got a hard road to travel, and a rough rough way to go’ but with determination and a tacit approval gender equality and justice can be achieved. After All we hold up half the sky.”
