The Tribune

WOMEN from a cross-section of Bahamian society came together for two days to participate in the Women in Leadership and Decision Making Course at the University of The Bahamas.

This is the first official course hosted at the university since morphing from a college.

About 20 women participated in the course this past weekend, ranging from professionals from the banking, medical, trade union and other fields, to UB students and homemakers.

“This course, designed to promote women, will look at how do we actually transform ourselves first, and then others that we have been called to lead,” Gaynel Curry told those gathered for the opening ceremony on Friday, February 4.

Ms Curry, director of the Department of Gender and Family Affairs of the Ministry of Social Services and Community Development, was elated to announce that the ministry had successfully partnered with the Caribbean Institute of Women in Leadership (CIWIL) to present this course.

Anande Trotman-Jospeh, who represented CIWIL, called for women to “find common ground even though we may be in different seasons in our lives.”

“We are women; we are sisters; we are Caribbean, and in this part of the world, we are holding up more than half of the sky,” she said.

In leadership, she added, it is important “not to acknowledge the ego in leadership, but become transformational leaders knowing your purpose, what you faced, and what you were able to overcome.”

Keshelle Kerr hosted the opening ceremonies, held at the Harry C Moore Library at UB. Ms Kerr, a write who plans to release another book this year, reminded women in leadership that saving and investing in ventures together is also empowering.

Paulette Adderley-Zonicle, the first female consul general to be appointed to Washington, DC, by the Bahamas government, delivered the keynote address, calling on Bahamian women to consider themselves as leaders no matter what position they are in.

Having grown up in the Grove, Ms Zonicle said that she watched her mother and other mothers in the area serve as leaders in their households and communities, being the very life blood of them. She encouraged those attending to consider themselves a leader in whatever capacity they are in, whether they are a boss or not.

She recalled when first given the assignment of consul general, Prime Minister Christie encouraged her with words she would never forget: “You are representing a country and a people.” Therefore, she said, every Bahamian woman, in whatever goal they strive after in life, must remember that they are not only representing themselves or those in their circle, but an entire nation.

“True leadership is a product of inspiration; genuine leadership is an internal disposition which emulates self-worth,” she said.

Minister of Transport Glenys Hanna-Martin spoke on behalf of Minister of Social Development Melanie Griffin, who was travelling. She was impressed at the cross section of Bahamian women who signed up for the course, some having been financed by a scholarship.

She noted that The Bahamas has some gains in the development process, particularly with equal access for women and girls in education, health and employment. In education, for example, girls continue to out perform boys at the secondary levels and at the tertiary level, UB indicated that 77 per cent of its 2015/ 2016 graduates were females.