Women’s Wednesdays: Women’s Political Participation

#WomensWednesdays highlights Bahamian women and our experiences in The Bahamas, specific to our identities including gender, race, sexuality, age, and ability. Held once per month at minimum, the events will draw women together to have conversations that bring our individual lives into focus while connecting to family, community, and national narratives.

#WomensWednesdays intentionally centers and prioritizes women and girls, and is open to the public through in-person events, livestreams, and social media activity. It is a collaborative effort of Equality Bahamas and the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas to create a safe space for knowledge-building, idea-sharing, critical dialogue, and movement-building.

This conversation centers around women’s political participation, particularly in the wake of bids for leadership by former FNM MP and Deputy Leader Loretta Butler-Turner and current PLP MP Glenys Hanna-Martin and the responses to their audacity. We will look at where we’ve come from, where we are now, and where we need to go. Beyond a general review, we will begin to create a strategy for Bahamian women interested in increasing and improving our political participation and its impact. It is the beginning of a process.
Questions framing our conversation:
– What does political participation mean? What does it look like?
– How, historically, have women participated in political processes, and what can we learn from them?
– What does current representation of women in Parliament and the Senate say about political parties and their values? How can we influence them over the next four years?
– How do Bahamian women in politics relate to, interact with, and share challenges and solutions with the constituency of women in the country?
– What temporary special measures should we consider, particularly for the recruitment, election, and retention of women who will champion women’s rights and fight for gender equality?
– What do we — as individuals and a constituency — need to do to ensure better participation and representation of women in 2022?Watch the replay of the event on November 15, 2017 below.

Women’s Wednesdays – Women’s Political Participation from NAGBahamas on Vimeo.