Gender in Caribbean Politics

09Jul08

Dedicating her first Budget Reply to the women who head families in Barbados, Mottley severely criticised Thompson’s three-hour Budget on Monday, saying it was the poorest she had ever heard in the history of politics in Barbados. Source Nation News

Men’s political participation far outstrips women’s in the Caribbean but we have nonetheless had an impressive (if more by their qualities than by their numbers) share of women leaders.

However, after Opposition Leader of Barbados, Mia Mottley declared her assets at a conservative? 3.5 million the likelihood of Barbados electing, in the future, a Prime Minister of either sex worth say a couple thousand seems to me a more important question than the likelihood of Barbados having a female Prime Minister.

I’m still processing just what the budget, which some people have described as increased taxes on everything but wukking up, will mean for me personally and the country as a whole. But the Opposition Leader’s big up of the matriarchs who “are struggling to make ends meet” rings a little hollow IMHO. Isn’t the use of the archetypal Single Mother, Female Head of Household, Caribbean Woman, Third World Woman a political cliché by now? Well, if this was indeed a karaoke budget, as Mottley called it she delivered a rather awkward and out of tune interpretation of Fantasia’s Baby Mama.

Barbados Free Press, Bajan Dream Project, Living in Barbados and Bajan Global Report have all commented on the budget and the Barbados Underground offers its assessment of the Opposition Leader’s response.


Filed under: Barbados, caribbean, gender   |  12 Comments

12 Responses to “Gender in Caribbean Politics”  

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  1. 1 titilayo on July 11, 2008 said:

    Loosely related to your post: I hardly ever listen to the Budget debates, but this year I was thinking I should have listened and counted how many veiled or not so veiled references MPs on the Government side made to Ms. Mottley’s (alleged) sexual proclivities. I listened to Chris Sinckler’s reply to Mia’s reply and he made at least 4 or 5, in less than 20 minutes, and I think there was one in Freundel Stuart’s speech (which was something else, yes?), as quoted in today’s Advocate. If I had made it a drinking game, I woulda been suffering from alcohol poisoning all now.

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  2. 2 abeni on July 11, 2008 said:

    Way to go Ms Mottley. Will others follow suit now?

    I would never have thought she was worth that much..shows how much I know:)

    Reply
  3. 3 eemanee on July 12, 2008 said:

    titilayo, I will have to get hold of a copy of the advocate as i didn’t listen to all the presentations. but that kind of behaviour is the norm on both sides.

    what for me was most striking was that for future generations of politicians what is most likely to stand in your way is not gender or sexuality identity/preference but wealth. i don’t want to be alarmist here but it seems that gap between the haves and the have nots is widening and we seem not to think it necessary to redistribute wealth.

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  4. 4 ESTEBAN AGOSTO REID on July 12, 2008 said:

    Excellent point Eemanee!

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  5. 5 eemanee on July 12, 2008 said:

    Thanks Esteban, glad to see you again!

    Kami, the former Prime Minister also declared his assets of around 1.5 million I think. Considering how expensive property is in Barbados i think these numbers are quite conservative.

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  6. 6 titilayo on July 14, 2008 said:

    When you say that wealth is the thing most likely to stand in the way of future politicians, do you mean in terms of getting into politics and being successful? I don’t know if I agree with you. I think that wealth smooths the path in politics as it does in almost every field, but I don’t know that being less than a millionaire is necessarily a hindrance. Also, do you think Bajans would want a Prime Minister who was worth a couple thousand? I think that we would prefer someone who’s been successful already, preferably in a professional field (i.e. a lawyer, economist, maybe a doctor), and whose financial worth would be an indication of her/his success.

    I’ve had a couple of thoughts about the declarations of worth. One, a declaration and a balance sheet doesn’t give any insight into how those assets were obtained, and whether everything was on the up-and-up, especially if the declaration is made well into your career in active politics. This is why I think the DLP should bite the bullet and get their MPs to declare assets ASAP, because most of them are new MPs/Ministers and we would therefore have some confidence that they haven’t used, directly or indirectly, their political positions and associated clout as a means of padding their bank accounts. Two, if you have a bank account (that you’re using for your father’s medical care or whatever) and you don’t tell us how much money is in it, then you haven’t declared your assets, you’ve declared the assets you feel like telling us about. Three, what about assets held overseas? Fourth, have the declarations been audited or in any way independently verified?

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  7. 7 eemanee on July 15, 2008 said:

    Titilayo, the way how i see it it is now a lot less likely for someone who maybe successful at their chosen profession but not necessarily wealthy, with the attendant connections, power and privilege, to be successful in politics.

    The declaration of assets was just a political stunt. As you pointed out they are basically all free to declare what they want. It means absolutely nothing.

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  8. 8 titilayo on July 15, 2008 said:

    Ah, I see. Yeah, I agree with you there. And I agree with you also about the widening gap between the have and the have nots; it’s very disturbing to me.

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  9. 9 jdid on July 18, 2008 said:

    i think the have have no gap widening world wide though its not just a local thing.

    still when I go into the supermarkets or see the prices at the restaurants in bim I always wonder how the average person can afford some of this stuff

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  10. 10 eemanee on July 20, 2008 said:

    The US has the greatest wealth gap of any developed nation. I would hate to think that in the Caribbean we would see income distribution as a thing of the past. We are all only a few generations out of poverty.

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  11. 11 Ian Bourne on July 20, 2008 said:

    I also ran the whole PM’s Budget speech by my News Blog, FYI

    Reply
  12. 12 LirlkiliLaw on August 3, 2008 said:

    Tahnks for posting

    Reply

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