Women Re-shaping the World!

06.MAR.09

Thirty-five years ago, International Women’s Day (IWD) was first commemorated in this country.

Then, even before the United Nations first observed the event, the women of St.Vincent and the Grenadines, connected with progressive organizations, came together at the Peace Memorial Hall in Kingstown to mark and celebrate the occasion. It was a brave act by these courageous young women, especially considering that in those days the issues of women’s rights were highly contentious ones and women were not well received in discussing these matters. Hats off, therefore, to those early pioneers, with women like Adrienne King, of Marriaqua, Hyacinth Charles, then resident in Kingstown, Ingrid O’Marde (née Williams) and the late Earlene Horne, of Diamonds, all playing prominent roles. Incidentally, none of the first three resides any longer in the land of her birth.

In stepping forward and calling on their sisters to stand up for their rights, those early pioneers were carrying on a long tradition of the struggle for women to be accorded their rightful places in society. IWD itself had its roots in such struggles. On March 8, 1857, garment workers in New York, tired of brutal exploitation in dingy factories, staged a strike for improved working conditions, equal rights and a 10-hour working day (days of 12-14 hours were then the norm). As was typical of the times, the strike was broken up by police and the leaders faced persecution. Fifty-one years later, on March 8, 1908, over 15,000 women in New York marched in memory of the 1857 actions, and two years later the second International Conference of Working Women held in Copenhagen, Denmark, proclaimed March 8 as International Women’s Day. By 1911, more than a million women in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland organized activities to mark the occasion. The women’s movement has not looked back since. 

I am sure you have been warned- Tell a lie and you will have to tell another to cover up and then another and another...

In short we are never able to tell a single lie, there is bound to be a ripple effect.


There is a saying that goes something like this- When yo could hide from a teef yo cyant hide from a liar.

Lies have a way of spreading and they spread fast. Gossip mongers love to hear bad things about someone.

A lie could ruin your reputation, cause you to lose opportunities and people.

To survive a lie you have to be strong enough to to shake it off, to simply ignore it. We are not meant to fight every battle. Some things and people should just be left to themselves; they more often than not self-destruct.

Those people who would be an asset to you and your journey will be able to look past the lies and see the real you...have no fear.

What is for a man he will get.

As a child I enjoyed reading.

I read EVERYTHING! I wasn't forced to read, I just read. I watched T.V. too... lots of it... during school vacations and on weekends. Television on schooldays was a 'luxury'.

Today I am glad I read as much as I did, because I often amaze myself and my students when I am able to talk about things that I should know little about.

As a teacher of English, I always tell students and parents that the key to becoming a great English student is to read.