Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley has issued a call to women achievers around the world to share their knowledge and inspire girls to realise their dreams.
Speaking in New York on Monday at the United Nations High-Level Meeting marking the 30th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference On Women
held in Beijing in 1995, she made the appeal to “the sisters” in the room and across the world who made up the audience that included present and former female heads of governments and Nobel Prize winners.
Mottley joined other speakers who amplified the call for women’s participation in the quest for world peace.
‘Make life richer’
“Women, my friends, truly make life richer from the homes, to the halls of justice and indeed this hall that we call United Nations,” she said.
She highlighted outstanding Caribbean women such as Lucille Mair, Dame Nita Barrow, Dr Peggy Antrobus, Dame Billie Miller and The Most Honourable Dr Eudine Barriteau, all of whom “made it their life’s purpose to be able to create a space for other girls and women to follow”, and were “part of the collective movement that carried us to Beijing and have made for us a major difference”.
The Prime Minister added: “I say simply to the sisters in this room and across the world, to those who have emerged as leaders in any sphere of life, those who have dreamed but against whom the doors of equity and opportunity were tightly closed, those who have suffered our struggle for equality . . . although your journey has been difficult to this point, it has been worth taking, for while we are deserving of dignity, regrettably half of humanity has been left behind.”
Prominent
The last in a list of prominent women who addressed the forum, Mottley said a lot had been learnt from women such as famed Polish scientist Madame Marie Curie; noted American writer Toni Morrison, the first black woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature; and Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman to be elected to the United States Congress.
“We believe that Rihanna and her excellence in entrepreneurship continues to inspire young girls to go where others have not gone before,” she said of the internationallyacclaimed Barbadian National Hero, singer and successful businesswoman.
“I do not take for granted the root that persons like myself have been able to make, but I recognise that even as we make the big transformations, we need to focus on the small things. We need to give girls the confidence to say no . . . . We need to give them the confidence not just to dream but to make their dreams a reality.
“I believe that this recognition of where we are with Beijing Plus 30 is an indication that we are still on track, but we have not gotten there . . . . I simply say let this be the inspiration to all who continue to fight for that recognition to be seen, to be heard.”
The High-Level Conference on the 30th Anniversary of the Fourth World Conference On Women
has been convened by president of the General Assembly, Annalena Baerbock, under the theme: Recommitting To, Resourcing And Accelerating The Implementation Of The Beijing Declaration And Platform For Action To Achieve Gender Equality And The Empowerment Of All Women And Girls.
It commemorates the historic meeting in 1995 which brought together 189 countries, rallied by then United States First Lady Hilary Clinton, to action for women’s rights.
(GC)
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