Bahamas National Women's Month Supplemet

Message From His Excellency, The Governor-General

My fellow Bahamians, we have been privileged to see The Bahamas grow from a small colony of the British Empire, into a vibrant, independent nation. This explosive growth can be attributed in no small part to the inclusion of women in all aspects of society.

More than fifty years ago, a few brave souls stood against the establishment in an effort for women of The Bahamas to gain the right to vote. It was a hard fought fight which culminated in victory on that historic day on November 26, 1962. Twenty years later, saw the election of the first female Member of Parliament and every Parliament thereafter has included women in varying numbers. Another first was achieved in 1997 with the first female Speaker of the House Of Assembly and yet another in 2002 with the first female Deputy Prime Minister.

In addition to the political arena, women have attained considerable success in other areas including business, sports and the performing arts.

I congratulate all women in The Bahamas on the occasion of National Women’s Month, 2012. I am confident that their contribution to the building of our nation over the next fifty years and beyond will far exceed expectations.

Sir Arthur Foulkes Governor General

Message From The Rt. Hon Prime Minister

There comes a time in the life of every country when a stand must be taken, for the principles of truth, justice and equality. These occasions may be brought about by any number of factors and may take various forms. In our own history we have seen The Burma Road Riots and the General Strike of 1958 both of which were in response to societal inequities. The Suffrage Movement was by no means less momentous as it also sought to correct a societal inequity.

When women 21 years and older voted in The Bahamas for the first time on November 26, 1962, it was the culmination of fourteen years of struggles, petitions and demonstrations. It is therefore imperative for the story of the Suffrage Movement to be told so that younger generations and those who come behind, particularly young women can appreciate the significance of this anniversary and understand what it took for them to gain the right to vote.

The women who against great odds and with limited resources stood resolute in their quest to gain the right for women to vote would indeed be full of pride to witness the fruits of their effort today.

The historic event of November 26, 1962 opened a door for women in The Bahamas, which can never be shut. Their subsequent contribution to the growth and development of this country in every field has been immeasurable.

I take pride on behalf of a grateful nation in saluting the women of The Bahamas on the occasion of National Women’s Month in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Enfranchisement of Women.

The Rt. Hon. Perry G. Christie Prime Minister

Message From The Minister of Social Services and Community Development It has been the tradition for The Bureau of Women’s Affairs of the Ministry of Social Services and Community Development in conjunction with non-governmental women’s organizations to observe National Women’s Week in November to coincide with November 26, as it was on that date in 1962 when women twenty-one years and older voted for the first time in The Bahamas. As this year marks the 50th anniversary of that historic event, November 2012 was proclaimed National Women’s Month under the theme “Celebrating 50 Years of Contribution to Nation Building.”

As the Minister of Social Services and Community Development with responsibility for Women’s Affairs and the Member of Parliament for the Yamacraw Constituency, I am fully aware of the debt that I owe the women of the Suffrage Movement. Without their commitment and bravery in the face of adversity to gain the right for women to vote, my election to Parliament and subsequent ascension to the Cabinet would not have been possible.

We now live in a time when women are freely able to choose their own paths to fulfillment. Many of the achievements attained and the opportunities available to women today were unimaginable fifty years ago. We can never forget the pioneers of female suffrage and the role they played in fostering the empowerment of women in The Bahamas.

I call upon women in The Bahamas to join hands and work for the continued advancement of all women as we celebrate 50 years of contribution to nation building.

The Hon. Melanie S. Griffin, M.P. Minister of Social Services and Community Development

The Bureau of Women’s Affairs

The first World Conference of Women held in Mexico City in 1975 paved the way for the United Nations Decade for Women (1976-1985). Since that time, The Bahamas joined countries around the world in advocating for the complete integration of women into the national development process. The establishment of a Women’s Desk was most important to direct this process.

In June 1981, a Women’s Desk was established in the Ministry of Youth, Sports & Community Development. Since the institutionalization of the Women’s Desk, its name and “home” has changed quite a few times. In January, 1995, the Unit was renamed the Bureau of Women’s Affairs and transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2008, The Bureau was placed under the Ministry of Labour and Social Development where it currently resides. Since May 2012 the Bureau operates under the Ministry of Social Services and Community Development.

Objectives i.

Advise on the formulation of a policy as a basis for women’s affairs at the national level; ii.

Establish organizational links between the women’s desk and other organizations as well as government ministries and departments; iii.

Establish organizational linkages with regional and international women’s organizations; iv.

Encourage and support the establishment of programmes of women’s organizations which are in accordance with the national policy; and v.

Initiate relevant programmes for women at the national level in accordance with the national objectives.

Chairpersons of The National Women’s Advisory Councils 1988 – 2012 Mrs, Cora Bain-Colebrooke 1988- 1989

Mrs. Judy Munroe 2002 – 2007

Mrs. Judy Munroe 1989 – 1990 1991 – 1992

Mrs. Gwendolyn Knowles 2008 – 2012

Dr. Ada Thompson 1993 – 1994 Mrs. Ruth Bowe – Darville 1995 – 2000

Heads of the Bureau of Women’s Affairs

Mrs. Marisa Mason- Smith 2012 - Present

Mrs. Cora Colebrooke 1981-1999

Mrs. Phedra Rahming 1999-2010

Ms. Christine Campbell 2010-Present

PROCLAMATION WHEREAS,

women in The Bahamas voted for the first time on November 26, 1962;

AND WHEREAS, the process that eventually led to Bahamian women being granted the right to vote was not without struggle, petitions and demonstrations by the Women’s Suffrage Movement whose five principal leaders were Mary Ingraham, Dr. Doris Johnson, Eugenia Lockhart, Georgianna Symonette and Mabel Walker; AND WHEREAS, women of The Bahamas continue to exercise their right to vote in large numbers; AND WHEREAS, since that historic day in 1962, several women in The Bahamas have offered as candidates in general elections, some of whom were subsequently elected to Parliament; AND WHEREAS, November 26, 2012 marks the 50th Anniversary of the Enfranchisement of Women in The Bahamas; AND WHEREAS, in recognition of the significant milestone, the Bureau of Women’s Affairs of the Ministry of Social Services and Community Development, in conjunction with non-governmental women’s organizations, has organized a month of activities under the theme “National Women’s Month: Celebrating 50 years of Contribution to Nation Building”; NOW THEREFORE, I, Perry Gladstone Christie, Prime Minister of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas, do hereby proclaim the month of November 2012 as “National Women’s Month”.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto

set my Hand and Seal this 6th day of November, 2012

Nassau, N.P. Bahamas November 24th, 1958 The Hon. Speaker and Member of The Hon. House of Assembly Your humble petitioners showeth: 1. That the adult female population is desirous of having the right to vote.

2. That women can vote in almost every country in the world – including sister West Indian colonies.

3. That of a population of approximately 100,000 there are about 54,00 women 4. That women own considerable real and personal property in New Providence and in the Out Islands.

5. That more than half of the working population are women, employed hotels as domestic servants, as shop clerks, and as civil servants.

6.

That the system of taxation without representation is both outmoded and unjust:

(a) Because women work they pay their own way. Naturally by their greater numbers they consume more taxable goods, e.g. clothing, food, home appliances, cosmetics, etc. They also assist in purchasing highly taxable expensive items such as cars. (b) The Colony’s chief sources of revenue is customs duties of which the greater proportion must be paid by the greatest proportion of the population – women. Therefore by contributing substantially to the national income, we feel we should have an equal voice in how that income is to be spent. (c) There is no reason why in a colony where women are equal to men when it is time to pay bills, that they should be discriminated against when it comes to the vote or jury service.

7. That for the past 10 years, of all children leaving elementary and high schools, girls outnumbered boys about 3 to 1. Among the young for each literate male there are three females.

8. That considering the contribution made by women in this community, and their proven ability to assume and execute their responsibilities, we are hopeful that your honourable body will correct this unjust situation and give women all political rights and privileges enjoyed by me.

And as in duty bound your petitioners do humbly pray.

Mr. Pindling presented the following petition from Doris L. Johnson, which, being brought up, was ordered to be printed:

Women Suffrage Movement

Nassau, Bahamas.

19th January, 1959 To The Speaker and Members of the Honourable House of Assembly We know that on a number of occasions the case for women suffrage has been put by men. We also know that our recent petition has been sent to the Constitution Committee of your Honourable House.

Organised women in Nassau and the Out Islands realize that it is our civic duty as loyal citizens to give leadership to the movement for full citizenship for Bahamian women in a manner which we hope will reflect the cool-headed common-sense and integrity of all our people.

Believing that no man can better say for women those things we women wish to say for ourselves, we, on behalf of organized women, request the permission of your Honourable House to address you, privately and informally, after the regular business of the House of Assembly is completed on the 19th January, 1959.

We women have honourably stood all the trials of our cause. Your humble petitioners, like the pure and noble Queen Esther stands waiting at the inner Court of Justice to hear the wisdom of the great King Solomon and pray that our petition to speak be granted.

And as in duty bound your petitioner will every pray.

Doris L. Johnson Pro Woman Suffrage Movement

Remarks by Dr. C.L. Walker

to the House of Assembly During the Presentation of the First Petition for Women’s Right to Vote in The Bahamas

December 1, 1952

WALKER: Your Royal Highness, Gentlemen: The underlying causes for this social unrest are manifold. We are in the majority but we have minority problems. We are poorly housed, poorly fed and poorly educated.

Truth to tell, we are the wretched of the earth.

in North, Central, South America, in the Caribbean and elsewhere. Diaspora, which means a scattering or dispersal of a people, originally referred to the Jewish historical experience, has never been more descriptive than when applied to the children of Africa.

Many years ago, English and American missionaries walked among us intent on ‘souls to save and bodies to enslave’ until one day my brother was forced to remark, ‘Fader, when first you come to Bahamas, you got da Bible and we got da land. Today, fader, we got da Bible and you got da land.’

We Bahamians, are the sons and grandsons, the daughters and granddaughters of those who arrived. We seek today to reclaim that which was snatched from us over 300 years ago--our dignity and self-respect as human beings.

Land is an important factor in the production of wealth. When strangers grab the land of the natives, they are tampering not only with their economic existence but with their cultural and political lives as well. That is why ‘land snatching’ as it is practiced today is the most concrete proof of the thorough enslavement of a people to an alien will.

For over 200 years, a locally based Governor vested with autocratic powers, directed the affairs of The Bahamas on behalf of the British Crown. He did this through a wholly appointed Executive Council, a wholly appointed Legislative Council and a House of Assembly, the members of which were elected once every seven years on a male franchise hemmed in by property qualifications, company and plural voting. All males were required to vote openly, or face victimization if their choice of candidates displeased their employers. More than half of the population--the women--could not vote at all. The general elections are not held on one day but are spread over a period of three weeks in order to give the monied interest an opportunity to travel from island to island and vote wherever they, or their companies owned or rented one or more lots of land.

This iniquitous electoral system secured the political and economic supremacy of the white landed gentry. They owned and managed both land and labour through numerous attorneys, priests, accountants, foremen and skilled artisans.

Next on the social pyramid were the merchants. The high prices of this middle class group played havoc with the poor on whose shoulders fell the full burden of an administrative system in which the rich paid no income taxes whatsoever.

Warrants for the arrest of ringleaders--would-be social reformers--were frequently issued for the most trivial of offences. In this way the law was made a weapon to club the natives into submission. Since there was no Bahamian Court of Appeal from a conviction on an indictable offence, the English judges with the help of their ‘special’ (white) juries often meted out draconian sentences against the black people.

Your Royal Highness, Gentlemen, recently, my brother told me the other day that when Columbus made his historic voyage to the New World, the English simultaneously dispatched two ships from London. The name of the first ship was Law; of the second, Justice.

The ship, Law, arrived safely into port, but, Gentlemen, Justice was lost somewhere in the mid-Atlantic.

But something equally as precious as Justice was also lost and this was the real tragedy.

Untold millions, uprooted from their native cultures in Africa, were scattered as slaves

During the interval between then and now, we have become the most brain-washed people in the world. We were made to believe that we were not fit to govern ourselves.

You see, teachers and missionaries did not tell us that there was a period in ancient history when Rome was barbarous and Greece slept but Africa flourished with its own governments, economic systems, military forces, religious and social organizations.

Indeed, in the very beginnings of mankind, the African nation of Egypt occupied a central role in world history.

We were taught that our ancestors contributed nothing to the advancement of civilization. Yet it was common knowledge that Africans were the first to practise agriculture--the first of the cultures--along the banks of the Niger River. Africa was the place where mankind first fashioned tools--a significant step in the evolution of civilization. Neither did they tell my people, Gentlemen, that the earliest known pottery was created in Africa more than thirty thousand years ago, during the Stone Age. It is a tragic fact that Bahamians have suffered many a serious social and psychological trauma from the decades of contempt and calumny which characterized traditional Western historical thought on the subject of Africa. Most of our fathers and mothers were compelled to live out their lives in submission to the dominant cultural values and attitudes of the hostile whites. They were forced to tolerate the racist ideologies of their white countrymen in order to survive. It is a psychological truism that an oppressed and rejected people soon come to see themselves through the eyes of their oppressors. As a result, the black man soon learned how to hate himself and others of his own race.

In the past, the schoolroom was not primarily an educational institution but a political one which sought only to maintain the power base of the white colonialist society.

The Emancipation Act of the United Kingdom Parliament, though designed to come into force in the Colonies on August 1, 1834, did not immediately give the slave his freedom. There was a compulsory ‘apprenticeship’ period similar in all but name to indentured labour. Now over one hundred years after the Emancipation Act, the colonial bosses offer sons of former slaves four shillings per day! O ye nominal Christians! Might not the son of an African slave ask you ‘Learned you this from your own god?’ Is not the labourer worthy of his hire? What dignity is there in slaving for a dollar a day?

Can a man maintain his self respect when he cannot feed himself and his family? I think not. Can a dollar a day man pay his medical expenses if he falls ill on the jobsite?

I think not.

Can the poor purchase enough food to strengthen him to perform the heavy duty

labour efficiently? No, Gentlemen. No! Poor wages mean a poor community and a poor community is the breeding ground for crime and disease. Furthermore, if these labourers are not paid a decent wage, they will not have the purchasing power to buy the goods in the Bay Street stores.

Gentlemen, your own self-interest should persuade you to give my brothers a decent wage!

Will the labourers return to their jobsite for four shillings per day?

Why should men who worked for four shillings yesterday want eight shillings today? Pray, let me tell you a story.

My eldest son’s bitch had a litter of pups. One day a neighbour came and asked the price for one.

My son replied, ‘One shilling for each puppy.’

The following day, the same lady returned with a shilling to complete the purchase. On approaching Roland, she was rebuffed. ‘No, no,’ he said, ‘the puppies are now two shillings each!’

‘Yesterday puppy, one shilling; today puppy, two shillings!’

‘How come?’ she inquired.

‘Well you see, Ma’am, yesterday the puppies’ eyes were closed; today, their eyes are opened. Yesterday, they were blind; today, they can see.’

Gentlemen, the scales have been peeled of the eyes of the labourers.

They now see opportunities beyond the status quo. They have discovered new insights--new strength in unity--and no one can purchase their labour now for so cheap a price as four shillings a day. The winds of change of World War II have blown in their direction and they have inhaled the air of freedom. Once they have tasted it, they can no longer live without it.

And now I wish to conclude with a personal word to His Royal Highness, the Duke of Windsor himself.

Two years ago when the radio waves brought the news of Your Royal Highness’ appointment as Governor of The Bahamas, the deaf heard, and the dumb spoke, the blind saw and the crippled leapt for joy. Your reputation as a humanitarian and King had preceded you.

‘Surely,’ we said to ourselves, ‘the Duke of Windsor will not allow us to continue to live amidst social inequities that sap our self respect and prevent us from attaining our full status as first class citizens.’

Fifty-four Governors have preceded Your Excellency, but not one ever brought a ray of hope to the poor and oppressed.

We believe that you are not just another Governor for one class of people but the Governor for all colours and classes of people.

In faith believing, I ask on behalf of all my brothers and sisters, ‘Art thou He that cometh or look we for another?’

A Chronology of Events Leading Up to the Enfranchisement of Women

By Marion Bethel

1944-1950 – Women in the English‐speaking Caribbean gained the right to vote: Jamaica in 1944, Trinidad in 1946 and Barbados in 1950. Women in The Bahamas, especially those women affiliated with lodges, were aware of the enfranchisement of women in different parts of the world including the right to vote for women in Canada in 1920 (excluding Quebec and the First Nations), the United States in 1920 and Britain in 1928.

1948 – Women in The Bahamas began to call for the right to vote.

1951 – Mary Ingraham and Mabel Walker were passionate about the right for women to vote. The husbands of both of these women, Rufus H. Ingraham and Dr. Claudius R. Walker, were members of the House of Assembly. Mrs. Ingraham sponsored a Petition for the right to vote and presented it to Stafford L. Sands, Jr., her representative in the House of Assembly. He apparently agreed to present it to the House even though he told her that he could not support it. The Petition was referred to the Constitution Committee of which Mr. Sands was the chairman. According to Henry M. Taylor, a Member of the House of Assembly for Long Island and Ragged Island, the Petition was ill‐fated as the Committee was not in favour of recommending to the House that the vote should be granted to women.

October 15, 1952 – The Daughters of the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World and other residents of New Providence drafted a Petition to be presented to the Speaker and Members of the House of Assembly. This Petition was signed by Mary N. Ingraham, Lillian Isaacs, Myrtle W. Wray, Effie Archer, Mamie Astwood, Jennie Smith and 438 other women.

December 20, 1952 – The United Nations Convention on the Political Rights of Women was adopted by the General Assembly in 1952. This convention provided that “women shall be entitled to vote in all elections on social terms with men without any discrimination.”

1952 – Dr. C. R Walker, Member of the House of Assembly and husband of Mabel Walker, presented the Petition of the Elks to the Speaker and Members of the House of Assembly demanding the enactment of legislation to grant the franchise to women in the Bahamas. A.F. Adderley, a member of the Legislative Council, presented the Petition to the Council.

November 1953 – The Progressive Liberal Party was officially formed in 1953. Henry Milton Taylor was the National Party Chairman.

1953 ‐ Mary McLeod Bethune, American educator and civil rights leader in Florida,

founded Bethune Cookman College. She visited The Bahamas at the invitation of Emerald Nicholls of the Carver Garden Club. An ardent advocate for social justice, Mary Bethune was also a tireless advocate for the rights of women. This visit was the inspiration for the founding of the National Council of Women in The Bahamas in 1958.

October 21, 1954 – Sylvia Larramore published a letter in the Tribune presenting the case for the enfranchisement of women.

1956 – Eugenia Lockhart and Georgianna Symonette, members of the Women’s Branch of the Progressive Liberal Party, campaigned for Cecil Wallace‐Whitfield in Eleuthera. He did not win the seat.

The two women then decided to organize women to gain the right to vote. They worked both through the organ of the Progressive Liberal Party and through the organization of the Suffrage Movement.

1957 – Mary Ingraham was elected President of the Suffrage Movement; Georgianna Symonette, Vice‐President; Eugenia Lockhart, Secretary. Meetings of the Suffrage Movement were held in the Rhinehart Hotel, owned by Dr. C. R. Walker, on Baillou Hill Rd.

January 13, 1958 – the Bahamas Federation of Labour called the General Strike in support of the Taxi Drivers’ Union. The Union had protested for many years that the white‐owned tour companies in alliance with the hotel operators competed successfully with the taxi drivers for tourist passengers. The coveted trip from the airport to the hotels was the hotly contested issue. The strike lasted some 19 days.

March 1, 1958 – The United Bahamian Party was officially formed at this time.

Stafford L. Sands, Jr. was the Chairman.

April 1958 – Alan Lennox‐Boyd, the Secretary of State for the Colonies visited The Bahamas. He supported the franchise for adult males but stated that he saw no evidence of a demand to extend the franchise to women even though there was a demonstration on Bay St. by women demanding the right to vote.

June 1958– The Bahamas Federation of Labour headed by Randol Fawkes gave its full

support to the Women’s Suffrage Movement in recognition of women’s contribution to the trade union Movement. Randol Fawkes was a public spokesperson for the improvement of the status of women in The Bahamas.

September 1958 – The establishment of the National Council of Women, an affiliate

of the International Council of Women, took place at St. John the Baptist Church on Meeting St. Lady Russell, wife of the Governor was the Honorary Member. The Executive committee was comprised of the following women: Irma Grant‐Smith, President- Elect: Mildred B. Donaldson, vice‐President–Elect; Irma Albury, Secretary; Elizabeth Bethel, Treasurer and other executive members were Albertha Isaacs, Veronica Higgs, Beatrice Huyler, Mabel Walker, Eugenia Lockhart, Georgianna Symonette, Mary Ingraham and Virginia Gibson. Doris Johnson was named the representative of the Council for North America. The Council was an umbrella organisation for women’s groups in The Bahamas. One of its objectives was to facilitate the removal of all disabilities in regard to the status of women.

September 1958 ‐ Doris Johnson returned from her studies abroad at university and joined the suffrage movement and the National Council of Women. She was also a committed and forceful member of the Progressive Liberal Party.

1960 – The Elks Association pledged publicly its support for the enactment of legislation for the right to vote for women.

Petition to the Speaker and Members of the House in support of the enfranchisement of women. The Petition was signed by more than 2,500 persons. This Petition was supported in the House of Assembly by Milo B. Butler.

travelled to London to present a Petition to the Rt Hon. Ian McCleod, the Secretary of State for the Colonies for the right to vote for women. Eirene White and Joan Vickers, Members of the British Parliament, attended the meetings in support of the suffrage for Bahamian women.

November 7, 1960 ‐ Doris Johnson, Eugenia Lockhart and Milton H. Taylor, December 1, 1958 – Gerald Cash, Member of the House of Assembly, presented a Chairman of the Progressive Liberal party and a member of the House of Assembly,

January 12, 1959 – Mary Ingraham wrote a letter to Mr. Alan Lennox‐Boyd, the Colonial Secretary, requesting an audience to present the case for the enfranchisement of women. He responded on January 16 advising that the Petition of the Suffrage Movement would be discussed in the House of Commons. He encouraged them to continue soliciting signatures of support.

January 19, 1959 – Doris Johnson led a march to the House of Assembly and presented a Petition to members of the House of Assembly demanding that women have the right to vote. This Petition was presented in the Magistrate’s Court of Maxwell Thompson as the UBP Members of Parliament refused to have her address them in the House of Assembly. Lynden O. Pindling persuaded his parliamentary colleagues to hear the Petition in the court room. Doris Johnson demanded that women be placed on juries and boards and official committees. Amongst other demands, she petitioned for the improved treatment of female juveniles and better maintenance benefits for children. She called for the appointment of female justices of the peace and female commissioners amongst a long list of other demands.

1960 – During a meeting of the members of the United Bahamian Party, they approved the vote for women 63 to 2.

October 22, 1960 – On Women’s Vote Flag Day, women agitated for the right to vote

on Bay St.

January 1961 – Women demonstrated in front of the House of Assembly. A Select

Committee gave a report in favour of the vote for women but with effect from January 1963. This was signed by seven United Bahamian Party members. The PLP and Independent members did not sign. Lynden Pindling presented another Petition demanding the immediate enfranchisement of women.

1961 – Arthur D. Hanna presented the Petition to House of Assembly to amend the Election Act to provide universal adult suffrage and the abolition of the property vote.

January 20, 1959 – Mary Ingraham, Doris Johnson, Georgianna Symonette, Eugenia Lockhart, Mildred Donaldson, Shirley Sands, Madame Willamae Saunders and Mary Stuart called on the Governor at Government House to present a Petition for the enfranchisement of women and demanded the enactment of legislation to provide for the vote for women.

February 23, 1961 – the Bill entitled “An Act to enable women to have and exercise rights of registration as voters and of voting similar to those accorded to men under the provisions of the General Assembly Elections Act 1959” was passed. It came into effect on June 30, 1962.

of Parliament in England visited the Bahamas to support the Women’s Suffrage Movement. The movement also attracted support from other international women’s organizations. Helen Tucker, President of the National Council of Women of Canada, supported the suffrage movement in The Bahamas.

to vote. She gave special thanks to Reverend Dr. H. W. Brown who supported the suffrage for women and actively helped to get signatures for the first Petition that was presented.

June 23, 1961 ‐ Mary Ingraham in her capacity as President of the Suffrage 1959 ‐ Eirene White, British Labour MP and Joan Vickers, Conservative Member Movement in a radio broadcast addressed the nation urging all women to register

1959 – The General Assembly Election Act was passed granting universal suffrage

to males of 21 years of age & older. The property qualification for voting and the company vote were abolished. The Act did not include the right of women to vote.

January 10, 1960 – Lynden Oscar Pindling brought a Petition to the House of Assembly for the immediate extension of the franchise to women.

1960 – After the Bye–Election of 1960 at which time the PLP gained five seats in the House of Assembly, the Party increased its advocacy of the right to vote for women.

July 12, 1962 – Ruby Ann Cooper was the first woman to register to vote.

November 1962 – Doris Johnson, the first woman in Bahamian history to contest a seat in elections, ran on the PLP ticket in Eleuthera . She did not win the seat.

November 26, 1962 – Women of 21 years and over voted for the first time in The

Bahamas.

Mary Naomi Mason-Ingraham

Mary Ingraham was a strong-willed and intelligent woman. These were the very attributes that enabled her to complete the work destiny had assigned to her in the Women’s Suffrage Movement. “May”, as she was affectionately called, was born on July 30, 1901 in New Providence. A housewife, she became actively involved in politics in the late 1940s when her husband, Rufus, was a Member of the House of Assembly for the Crooked Island and Acklins Districts. In the 1949 General Election, her husband lost his seat; and he attributed his loss to the fact that women were not allowed to vote. He felt that most of the males who were eligible to vote did so only in exchange for materialistic things such as alcohol or cash, which his opponents were able to supply. The experience of her husband impressed upon Mary the need for women to be able to vote.

She had been agitating the powers-that-be for some time to give women equal voting rights with men, but she had been unsuccessful, until she joined forces with some other strong-willed and intelligent women.

In 1950 Mrs. Mabel Walker, wife of PLP Parliamentarian C. R. Walker and a long time close friend of the family, approached Mrs. Ingraham on behalf of a young women’s group wanting to know how to go about getting the vote for women. Mary was willing to work with them to bring about this change.

The women formed a committee, the Women’s Suffrage Movement. Mary already had some experience in the fight and was made chairman; Georgiana K. Symonette, later chairman of the Women’s Branch of the PLP, was made vice chairman; Eugenia Lockhart was its secretary; and Althea Mortimer, Mabel C. Walker, and Muriel Eneas were members. Most of these women held influential positions in various female organizations of that period: Mabel Walker had established the Teachers Union and was working to get recognition for it; and Mrs. Ingraham was a Past Daughter Ruler of the Elks of the World and Past Matron of the Order of Eastern Stars.

The committee evolved in structure, size, and effectiveness between 1950 and 1962. In 1958 Doris Johnson joined the Movement as spokesperson and mobilized the movement into a fighting force. Following two Petitions, an executive meeting with Lennox Boyd, an epochal speech by Doris Johnson on the moral imperative of universal adult suffrage to members of Parliament, and a visit to the Secretary of State for the Colonies in London, Mr. Stafford Sands tabled a Bill “to enable women to have and exercise rights of registration as voters and of voting similar to those accorded to men....’ The Bill passed Parliament in February 23, 1961. It came into effect on June 30, 1962; and women 21 years or older voted for the first time on November 26, 1962.

Mrs. Mabel Cordelia Walker

Mabel Cordelia Holloway Walker was a capable and dynamic advocate for change in The Bahamas. The fact that she was an American, born in Greenville, South Carolina on May 2, 1902, in no way diminished her passion for education and gender equality in The Bahamas. She studied at Howard University in Washington, DC where she obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree and met her Bahamian husband, Claudius Roland Walker, who was then studying for the Bachelor of Science degree.

Mrs. Walker relocated to The Bahamas with her husband after he completed his medical studies at Meharry College in Nashville, Tennessee. She became involved in education by opening a pre-school and assisting her husband with adult education classes at the Bahamas Technical Institute which he had organized. Later, Mrs. Walker became a teacher with the Board of Education at Southern Preparatory School, then Western Senior and Junior Schools. She was promoted to headmistress of Woodcock Primary School, a post she held until her retirement in 1962.

Mrs. Walker was founding president of the Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT) in 1947, the first woman to head a trade union in The Bahamas.

She worked hard for the recognition of the Union and was adamant that teachers be recognized, trained and paid as professionals. The Mabel Walker Primary School and the administrative building of the BUT, Walker Hall, are named in honor of her contribution to education.

Mrs. Mabel C. Walker also was the catalyst of the Women’s Suffrage Movement. She brought together some strong-willed and intelligent women of diverse social and political background when she suggested to Georgiana K. Symonette, later chairman of the Women’s Branch of the PLP, that they seek the assistance of Mary Ingraham, wife of a former UBPleaning member of the House of Assembly. Mrs. Walker labored in the Suffrage Movement from 1950 until 1962 when Bahamian women of 21 years or older were given the right to vote. It is a testimony to her character that she fought for a cause from which she would derive no direct benefit as she was an American. She knew that the cause was just and that the fight was for her children.

Mrs. Walker lived by principles. She believed in the dignity of work. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” was her guide.

She always believed in the potential of people, and encouraged people to achieve their goals. She would say ‘nothing is impossible,’ and ‘there is nothing called ‘I can’t’. Even in her later life, she was always encouraging and helping people. Mrs. Walker died on July 8, 1987.

Eugenia Louise Lockhart OBE Georgiana Kathleen Symonette

Eugenia L. Lockhart was the secretary of the Women’s Suffrage Movement and secretary of the Women’s Branch of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP). It was her love of reading and writing that led Eugenia to serve as secretary of the Movement and the PLP. She was active in fundraising and organizing for both groups.

She was born to Horace and Helen Wilson on June 17, 1908 at Duncan Town, Ragged Island. At the age of twelve she served as monitor (assistant teacher) of the government All-Age School at Duncan Town.

The role of the women who comprised the Movement cannot be minimized. This body of women demanded the attention of the House of Assembly by presenting petitions and picketing in the Public Square and around the House for the right to vote. Throughout the 1950s these women were led by Eugenia Lockhart, Mary Ingraham, Georgiana Symonette, Mabel Walker, Doris Johnson, and others.

Mrs. Lockhart and Doris Johnson were the two suffragettes who accompanied H. M.Taylor to London in 1960 to present the case for universal adult suffrage to the Secretary of State to the Colonies. In 1961, Parliament passed legislation to enable women to vote and sit in the legislature of The Bahamas. In the 1962 General Election, women voted for the first time, and by 1967 black women had organized themselves into a voting bloc. It was this bloc which significantly impacted the Progressive Liberal Party’s victory that ushered in Majority rule.

The foresight and organizing capacity of Mrs. Lockhart and the other suffragettes were pivotal in the move to universal adult suffrage in The Bahamas. Mrs. Lockhart’s husband Captain Edward Lockhart and their children shared her efforts for women’s rights. Mrs. Lockhart was appointed to the Order of the British Empire and was made Stalwart Councilor of the PLP.

Adapted from The 100 Most Outstanding Bahamians of the 20th Century

Georgiana Kathleen was born April 4, 1902 in Wemyss Bight, Eleuthera to Olivia McKinney and Alexander Symonette. She was educated at the government school in Wemyss Bight and later became a monitor there (assistant teacher).

Georgianna Symonette’s ambition to improve herself professionally caused her to migrate to Nassau to pursue nursing at the Bahamas General Hospital (renamed the Princess Margaret Hospital). She lived in the Eastern District where she raised her family of four children and ran a successful dry goods business. Miss Symonette had a passion for politics, the rights of women and the advancement of black people socially, economically and politically. It was this dimension of her life which has set her apart. The vehicle for that expression was the Progressive Liberal party which was founded in 1953. She became the founding chairman of the Women’s Branch of the party.

Recognizing the inequities in voting rights, Miss Symonette and three other ladies, Mrs. Mary Ingraham, Eugenia Lockhart and Mabel Walker formed the Women’s Suffrage Movement. In order to sensitize the government of the day to the desire of women to vote, Miss Symonette and the other suffragettes adopted a very aggressive action programme. They toured the entire archipelago gaining signatures for petitions; picketed the House of Assembly; addressed Parliamentarians; and, made representation to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. As a result of the persistence of the suffragettes, Parliament in 1961 passed an Act giving women the right to vote. In the 1962 General Election women voted for the first time in The Bahamas thanks to the tireless agitation of women like Georgiana Symonette.

Miss Symonette died May 14, 1965. Her political contribution has continued through two generations of her children. Her son Sir Clement Maynard was a minister of the government for 25 consecutive years and deputy prime minister of The Bahamas (1985-1992), and two of her grandchildren have served as ministers of government.

Adapted from The 100 Most Outstanding Bahamians of the 20th Century

Dame Dr. Doris Johnson

Dr. Doris Johnson has been described as a woman of a high level of intelligence and ambition, committed to achieving her goals against the odds. Born Doris Sands in 1921, she had long been a social and political fighter for the rights of women. When she returned to The Bahamas in 1958 from studying abroad, the Women’s Suffrage Movement embraced her passion and oratorical skills. She was able to mobilize the movement into a fighting force (while coordinating the founding of the National Council of Women).

In 1959 Dr. Johnson led a demonstration to Parliament and gave a pivotal speech to members of the House of Assembly on the moral right of women to vote. This event was a turning point in the road to achieving suffrage.

In November 1960, Dr. Doris Johnson and Eugenia Lockhart accompanied Henry M. Taylor, Chairman of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), to London to present a Petition for universal adult suffrage to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. The following year, a Select Committee of the Bahamas Parliament presented a report which proposed to yield to women the right to vote in 1963. The PLP and Independents opposed the deferral of the right, and an appeal was made to London again. In February 23, 1961 the House of Assembly enacted the law to give women the right to vote and sit in the legislature with effect from June 30, 1962.

In 1962 Dr. Johnson became the first woman ever to contest a seat in Parliment; she ran for the Eleuthera District. She did not win. In 1967 the PLP became the government of The Bahamas, and Dr. Johnson became the first woman appointed to the Senate; the first woman leader of government business in the Senate; the first woman minister of government (1968-1973 Ministry of Transport); and, the first woman president of the Senate (1973-1979) at age 52.

Dame Dr. Doris held the Bachelor of Arts in English and Education cum laude, Master of Education degree in Administration and Supervision, and Doctor of Education with honours from New York University. She taught for seventeen years in the Bahamian public education system in the 1940s and 1950s before taking up the position of lecturer in social studies at Virginia Union, U.S.A. 19651967. She died June 21, 1983.

The Abaco Movement

COMMUNITY, CIVICS & THE SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT Effie Archer lived in the Eastern District, Nassau and was keenly and actively involved in community and civic affairs.

She shared similar goals, alliances and friendships in the late forties and early fifties with the women suffrage Leaders and Signatories of Petitions in support of the right for women to vote in the persons of: Mary Ingraham, Georgianna Symonette, Mother Francis Butler, Dame Bertha Isaacs, Reverend Lavania Stewart, Ivy Mackey, Myrtle Wray and many other women .

Her long lasting and stellar Memberships were in the following Non Government Organizations: Young Women Christian Association (YWCA); a Charter Member of Alpha Temple of Elks Lodge #909; Past Daughter Ruler and Member of the Elks Council. Through the Elks Lodge Effie Archer forged committed linkages with Mrs. Mary Ingraham, Head of Elks Excelsior Temple and together in 1952 with sister Elks Lodge members including her daughter Mamie Astwood, niece Jennie Smith (Green Turtle Cay, Abaco), Lillian Isaacs, Myrtle Wray and 438 New Providence residents, signed the first Petition for enfranchisement of women in The Bahamas. Effie Archer’s name appears as the first signature on the first Petition signed in 1952 as recorded in the records of the House of Assembly.

Dr. Claudius R. Walker presented the first Petition to the Speaker and Members of the House of Assembly in October 1952.

Effie Archer was fearless and proactive. She agitated and fully supported men and women in the Churches and Civic organizations who fought, struggled and campaigned for justice for women: equality in politics, the workplace, in the Church and the wider community in The Bahamas in the late forties, fifties and sixties. She was committed to helping the downtrodden and persons in distress and need.

She was a very proud Abaconian lady to be among the confident, strong and bold women of the suffrage movement in the fifties, to take on the challenges and petition the Government of the day for the equal rights of women to be educated and for women to participate in the electoral process in The Bahamas. She was a fervent and committed lady from Abaco who supported New Providence and other Out Island Leaders in the struggle. She was sincerely attracted to the challenge of letting God take them through and believing that He would bring them out. This advocate and champion of human rights was among the first Bahamian women to vote in a National and General Election in The Bahamas.

During the 39th Independence Celebrations of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas National Pride Day celebrating the opening of “The Women’s Suffrage Exhibition” Friday July 6, 2012, Rawson and Parliament Squares, Bay Street, Nassau, New Providence, Effie Archer was recognized and honoured (posthumously) for her remarkable and distinctive contribution to the suffrage movement and as the first signatory of the First Petition presented in 1952 in the House of Assembly. Her Portrait and Biography are displayed among the “struggles of our mothers, grandmothers, the Women of our Nation who have been brought to centre stage as we celebrate their achievements and we are reminded that it was from this humble beginning that The Bahamas can boast of Majority Rule.”{Honourable Dr. Daniel Johnson, M.P. and Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, The Commonwealth of The Bahamas, July 2012} In addition, her Portrait forms a part of the Exhibition with other notable Bahamian Women at Nassau, New Providence premier roundabouts (from July 2012) and she is prominently featured on the 2012 cover of the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) Abaco Telephone Directory.

Effie Archer has left an outstanding legacy of service to God and mankind. She died on April 28, 2003 at age 98.

The Pioneers

Ruby-Ann Cooper-Darling

By Matt Maura Bahamas Information Services

NASSAU, The Bahamas ---- In 1962 at the age of 21, RubyAnn Cooper received a “Mission from God.” That mission would change her life, and those of tens of thousands of Black Bahamian women over the past five decades and perhaps for centuries to come.

By this time in the country’s history, most Bahamians should already know the story surrounding the accomplishment of Ruby-Ann Cooper, now Darling, as the first Bahamian woman to register to vote in the General Elections.

The Right to Register and the Right to Vote came on the heels of the struggles of the members of the Women’s Suffrage Movement who fought for equal rights for all women in The Bahamas.

Their heroic and historic feat has resulted in many of them being referred to on a first name basis only – Mabel, Eugenia, Mary, Doris, Georgianna, Albertha, et al - in many corners of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, signifying the gratitude and reverence of thousands of Bahamians.

“God awoke me that day and told me He had a mission for me to go on, and that the mission would be to be the first woman to register in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas,” Mrs. Cooper-Darling reminisced recently.

“He said ‘If Mary and Mabel and Eugenia and Doris and Georgianna et al went and fought for it, you must now go and get the prize, get the trophy.’ What was that trophy? Taking advantage of the opportunity to Register To Vote.

“There was no regard as to the historical value of what I did back then as the first woman to Register to Vote in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas,” Mrs. Cooper-Darling continued, “it was all about doing God’s bidding and taking advantage of an opportunity He had given us as Bahamian women.”

Born June 28, 1941, Mrs. Cooper-Darling said she knows she was predestined by God to be among the female catalysts on the political and social scene in The Bahamas.

“That’s why he made me to come here June 28, 1941 just in time to be 21 and catch the day for women to register,” Mrs. Cooper-Darling said. “One thing I can tell you is that I was never afraid; never thought about any repercussions because I was never afraid.

“Nor did I think of it as something to have pride in; that I was going to be the first to do something grand. I was on a Mission from God and when you are on a Mission from God, you don’t worry about yourself; you just look at it as such and say ‘Okay, that’s one down and more to go.’”

Mrs. Cooper-Darling said in retrospect, the story could have been different.

“Why? Because I was first in line and a caucasian lady was second in line and if we had played musical chairs and had switched positions, the story of women in this country would have been a different story 50 years hence today, the reason being because they would have had the prominence.

“Don’t forget, these were privileged women. They already had the right to vote proxy-wise through their husbands, dower-wise through their husbands and because their husbands had property and everything while the black woman’s husband had nothing.

“Looking back, the black woman was disenfranchised in many instances and so had we switched places, the story definitely would have been quite different,” Mrs. Cooper-Darling added.

Mrs. Cooper-Darling never voted in the elections of 1962 as she was off the island, but did so in the following General Elections. The designation of being the first to vote went to Mrs. Amanda Adderley and Mrs. Cynthia Donaldson.

Cooper-Darling said women have made tremendous strides in the socio-economic-political development of The Bahamas since 1962, more so than some First World countries.

“That is so because we have had persons like ‘Mother’ Pratt who was this country’s first female Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security, and Doris Johnson as first female Senate President; Janet Bostwick as the first woman elected to Parliament (Ruby Ann CooperDarling was the second woman elected into Parliament in 1987) and the first female Cabinet Minister and Dame Ivy (Dumont as first female Governor-General) and a lists of other women with other achievements in politics, business, education and so forth which is much better than many so-called First World countries,” she said. “There is no area, perhaps not that many areas - career-wise - that women in The Bahamas have not ascended to,” said Mrs. CooperDarling, “but more can be done.”

Mrs. Cooper-Darling said she cringes when “today’s women” fail to take advantage of the opportunity for which “many personal sacrifices were made to ensure future generations of Bahamian women would have a right to register and vote.” “Sometimes I see it as a slap in the face when that happens, but the ball was dropped. Parents did not tell the story. They did not encourage, and so the children don’t really see the value of it and that’s why we must get back to telling the Old Time stories. “The Bible admonished us, when He brought the Children of Israel from oppression and deprivation and being marginalised, to ‘Once you leave this place, I want you to tell your children, don’t forget the story must be kept in relay style.’ Tell the true story. Don’t make up a lie, because the story has worth and value in it; it has healing in it; it has deliverance in it. “Any time you don’t tell the story of from whence God brought you, the stranger comes in and takes over the land and now they have a story to tell and such it was they will say of us, as they did one time ago of the Arawaks, that they were here.’”

Ivy Mackey

On 26 November 1962, Ivy Zonah Mackey became the first woman to vote in The Bahamas. The only child of Fred and Ella Murray, she often boasted of her birthday, the tenth day of the tenth month of the tenth year, 10 October 1910.

Mrs. Mackey received her early education at government schools, leaving Western Senior School at the age of 14.

At this time she joined the Oleander club, where she pursued cooking, sewing, and basic nursing. Later, she entered The Bahamas General Hospital to train as a nurse but quickly decided that she did not like nursing. Recognizing her skill at dressmaking, she became a seamstress and worked at her own business in Grants Town. Many remember that she also cooked and served delicious lunches and other treats to the students of Centreville Primary School, directly opposite her home, until she retired in 1993.

Mrs. Mackey was very active in the community. Some of her involvements include membership in: - The Elks Lodge – where she was voted International Elk of the Year in 1981, and holds the title of Past Granddaughter Ruler The Progressive Liberal Party St. Mary’s Anglican Church and Anglican Church Women Queen Mary’s Needlework Guild The Good Friends Guild, a charity club The Royal British Legion The Crippled Children’s Fund The Red Cross The Good Samaritan Lodge Mrs. Mackey was married to Ernest “Sonny” Mackey. Together they had two children, Sidney Whitfield and Audrey Fountain. Mrs. Mackey passed away in January 2001.

The Honourable Janet G. Bostwick

Women in

Janet Gwenett Bostwick shattered the glass ceiling of politics in The Bahamas in 1982 when she took her seat in the halls of Parliament, the first woman to do so in more than 250 years of Parliamentary democracy. By the time of this achievement, she had already distinguished herself as the advocate of women’s rights.

However, Mrs. Bostwick’s greatest accomplishments would come as a legislator bringing about equity, justice and protection for women through the laws that govern their lives. Mrs. Bostwick entered frontline politics in the 1977 General Election but was unsuccessful in that bid. In 1982 she won the Yamacraw Constituency seat for the Free National Movement (FNM). Her opportunity to bring about legislative changes came in 1992 when the FNM won the government and she was appointed minister of government in key posts. In the period 1992 to 2002 the Honourable Janet Bostwick served as Minister of Social Services, National Insurance and Housing; Minister of Justice and Immigration; the first female Minister of Foreign Affairs; the first female Attorney-General in the region; and, acting Prime Minister, the first woman to do so. Landmark advances in the status of women and children were achieved during that decade in the areas of the Affiliation Proceedings Act (amended to increase payment of maintenance funds to women with dependents); the Inheritance Act (addressed the line of inheritance to include females as equal to that of males); the Matrimonial Causes Act (grounds for divorce amended); the Status of Children Act; as well as further amendments to the labour, maternity leave and National Insurance legislation, all of which further enhanced the conditions of service of workers. The Bahamas ratified in 1993 the United Nations Convention for the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and in 2000 ratified the UN Convention related to the trafficking in persons.

The Hon Janet Bostwick retired from frontline politics in 2002. She has served her country with distinction nationally, regionally and internationally. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Women’s Suffrage Movement in The Bahamas, the United States Embassy bestowed on Mrs. Bostwick the State Department’s highest award for female leaders – the 2012 International Woman of Courage Award – for her work over the past forty years advancing the rights of women in The Bahamas.

R. Italia Johnson

In 1997, The Bahamas was in its 269th year of Parliamentary Democracy. For the entire duration of this time the office of Speaker had been held by a man. When the Free National Movement was re-elected to office in 1997 a bold innovative and necessary step was taken. The Parliament elected Ms. R. Italia Johnson as its first female to the position of Presiding Officer.

Upon her election to the office of Speaker, Ms. Johnson immediately set about demonstrating ability to perform her formidable task with skill and understanding. Not only had she proven herself up to the task in a very active and sometimes difficult Parliament, but in many ways she more than measured up to her assigned task. During her five year term in office she proved herself equal to her counterparts and predecessors.

In her maiden speech to the Parliament immediately after she was elected Speaker, Ms. Johnson set the tone for her tenure in office. She made it very clear that “the Opposition would have its say but the Government will have its way”.

The office of Speaker, as well as institution of Parliament, has many ancient privileges and Ms. Johnson protected them all. It is a testament to her success that the office of Speaker was kept in its original high standing and was passed on, unblemished, to her successor.

As speaker, she was highly respected by all members of the House in spite of the sometimes lively debate. One of the necessary qualities of a successful Speaker is restraint. Without it, the house will find itself in a state of perpetual mayhem. One of the high points of her tenure happened in the last days leading up to the General Election of 2002 when the leader and deputy leader of Bahamas Democratic Movement crossed the floor and handcuffed themselves to the Mace. Madam Speaker demonstrated great restraint in her approach to censuring the intruders.

Ms. Johnson left a positive legacy in the House. She has definitely left no doubt as to the capability of women to perform competently in this high office.

n Politics Dame Ivy Dumont

Dame Ivy Dumont (nee Turnquest) retired as the first female Governor-General of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas on February 1, 2006. She was appointed Governor-General by the Queen on January 1, 2002. Dame Ivy had assumed office as Acting Governor-General on November 13, 2001, in succession to Sir Orville Turnquest.

The sixth Governor-General in an independent Bahamas, Dame Ivy was born on October 2, 1930, at Rose’s, Long Island, The Bahamas, and received her early education at Roses and Buckley’s, Long Island.

She attended the Government High School in New Providence from 1942 to 1948, The Bahamas Teachers’ Training College from 1950 to 1951, the University of Miami from 1968 to 1970, and Nova University (part time) from 1976 to 1978.

She received her Cambridge Junior Certificate in 1946, the Cambridge Senior in 1974, a Teacher’s Training Certificate in 1951 and an Associate of the College of Preceptors in 1952. In 1954 she received The Bahamas Teacher’s Certificate. She spent six months in the United States on a Fulbright Grant between 1962 to 1963, and in 1965 received a General Certificate of Education A-Level pass in Literature from the Teacher’s Union Institute. She also undertook various public-service courses over the years, including basic accounting and personnel administration.

A founding member and Secretary General of The Bahamas Union of Teachers, she served in the Ministry of Education and Culture between 1948 and 1975 as a student teacher, a class teacher, head-teacher, education officer and deputy director of education.

She served as Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works and Utilities from 1975 to 1978. In 1978 she joined RoyWest Trust Corporation (Bahamas) Limited/NatWest International Trust Holding Limited and held the positions of training officer, assistant manager, personnel and manager, group relations. Dame Ivy also served as secretary-general of the Free National Movement (FNM) She was appointed to the Senate and sworn in as Minister of Health and Environment on August 24, 1992, following the FNM’s victory in the August 19 general election. Dame Ivy was appointed Minister of Education and Training January 9, 1995. She was reappointed Minister of Education March 18. 1997, following the FNM’s victory in the March 14 general election.

In September 2009, Dame Ivy published “Roses to Mount Fitzwilliam” a “personal history of transformation from island girl to Governor-General”, as described by The Hon. Hubert A. Ingraham, former Prime Minister of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas in the Foreword of her book.

She holds membership in Emmanuel Gospel Chapel, Sisters Fellowship of the Assemblies of Brethren in The Bahamas, Women’s Aglow Fellowship International, The Bahamas Humane Society and the American Management Association. She is a Bible-education facilitator, an accomplished seamstress and occasional gardener.

She was married to Reginald Dean Dumont, a retired police inspector and price control inspector. She has one living child, Edda.

Cynthia Pratt

Former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security and Member of Parliament for the St. Cecilia Constituency Mrs. Pratt served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security in the Progressive Liberal Party administration from 2002-2007, following the PLP’s victory in the May 2002 General Election. She is the first women in the history of The Bahamas to hold such a title and ministerial post.

She was the Deputy Leader of the PLP and also served as the Party’s Whip in Parliament. Mrs. Pratt was first elected for the St. Cecilia Constituency in the August 1997 General Election and was elected Deputy Leader of the PLP in October of that year.

She was born November 5, 1945 in Nassau to Herman and Rose Moxey, both of whom are deceased.

Mrs. Pratt attended the Western Junior and Senior Schools, the Princess Margaret Hospital’s School of Nursing and A.F. Adderley, C.C. Sweeting and Aquinas College evening institutes. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree (honours) in health and education with a minor in sociology from St. Augustine’s College, Raleigh, North Carolina from where she graduated in 1983. St. Augustine’s College conferred an honorary doctorate of humane letters on Mrs. Pratt in February, 1995. She is a member of the Kappa Delta Pi and Alpha Kappa Mrs. Honor Societies.

She has served The Bahamas for 34 years as a nurse and teacher. She worked as head of department at C.C. Sweeting Secondary School and as a part-time lecturer and Assistant Director of Student Activities at the College of The Bahamas.

An affiliate of Zonta – Living Legend 2002, she serves as adviser for Teen Challenge Bahamas and has been honoured by the mounting of the ”Mother Pratt” Basketball Classic and the “Mother Pratt” Charitable Foundation has also been named after her. She is founder of the Coconut Grove Community Club (for males) and the St. Cecilia Community Club (for females).

Mrs. Pratt is a versatile athlete who has represented The Bahamas nationally and internationally in softball, volleyball and track and field.

A Justice of the Peace and born-again Christian, she is an ordained minister responsible for youth and Christian education at Prayer and Praise Assembly, where she is also Sunday School Superintendent and an administrator.

Mrs. Pratt was married to Joseph B. Pratt (deceased) and has five children.

Her hobbies include coaching, co-ordinating sports events and assisting underprivileged persons.

Female Dame Dr. Doris Johnson

(Minister w/o Portfolio in 1968, later Minister of Transport) – 1968 PLP Administration*

Cynthia Pratt

2002 (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security) PLP Administration***

Claire Hepburn

2007 (Attorney General and Minister of State for Legal Affairs) FNM Administration****

Cabinet Ministers (1968-2012)

Janet Bostwick

1992 (Minister of Social Services, National Insurance and Housing) and 1997 (Minister of Foreign Affairs, later Minister of Foreign Affairs and Attorney General, later Minister of Foreign Affairs) FNM Administrations**

Melanie S. Griffin

2002 (Minister of Social Services and Community Development) and 2012 PLP Administration***

Elma Campbell

2007 (Minister of State for Immigration in the Ministry of National Security) FNM Administration ****

Dame Dr. Ivy Leona Dumont

1992 (Minister of Health and Environment) and 1997 (Minister of Education, Minister of Youth, Sports, and Culture, later Minister of Education and Youth) FNM Administrations**

Glenys Hanna-Martin

2002 (Minister of Transport and Aviation) and 2012 PLP Administration***

Loretta Butler-Turner

2007 (Minister of State for Social Development in the Ministry of Health and Social Development) FNM Administration ****

Theresa Moxey-Ingraham

1992 (Minister of Transport and Communication) and 1997 (Minister of Labour, Immigration, and Training, later Minister of Commerce, Agriculture, and Industry, later Minister of Public Service and Cultural Affairs) FNM Administrations**

Allyson Maynard-Gibson

2002 (Minister of Financial Services and Investments) and 2012 PLP Administration***

Cynthia V. Hope Strachan

2012 PLP Administration (Minister of State for the Ministry of Transport and Aviation) ***

Women

IN PARLIAMENT (1968-2012)

Women in the Struggle Mother Francis Butler

Effie Walkes

Althea Mortimer

June Stevenson Grace Wilson Mildred Moxey Ethel Kemp Gladys Bailey Madge Brown

Beryl Hanna

Anatol C. Rodgers

First Female Headmistress of Goverment High School

Lady Pindling Lillian Isaacs Myrtle W Wray Mamie Astwood Jennie Smith

Trailblazers Dames Albertha Madeline Isaacs

Desiree Cox Maksinor First Bahamian Rhodes Scholar

Dr. Keva Bethel

First Female President of The College of The Bahamas

Dr. Gail Saunders First Female Archivist

Trailblazers Hilda Bowen

First Bahamian Director of Nursing

Lynn P. Holowesko First Bahamian Ambassador to The Environment

Patricia Isaacs

Dr. Vernell Allen,

Patricia Cole-Cozzi

First Female Bahamian Attorney

The Golden Girls

First Female Deputy to the Governor General

MBE First Female Chief Medical Officer

Melanie Roach

First Female Engineer & Director of Works

First Bahamian Olympic Gold Medalists

Wendy Craigg

First Female Governor of The Central Bank of The Bahamas

Allerdyce Strachan

First Female Police Superintendent

Telator Strachan

First Female Straw Vendor to be Appointed Senator

Rising Stars Dandreia Bethel Chantal Adderley Artist and a shoe designer.

A junior at Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, ME studying Marine Transportation Operations

Karin Edna Glinton Certified Public Accountant licensed under the New Hampshire State Board of Accountancy

Keia Armbrister BA in Engineering and Naval Architecture & 3rd Mates License

Inga Bethel Senior at Kettering University, majoring in both Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

Ivana Smith Cake artist/ Executive Pastry Chef, Kerzner International.

Jade Pratt Budding young Bahamian scientist

Dr. Wentia E. Ford Biomedical Scientist

Martiniqua Moxey Nikita Shiel-Rolle Dr. Wel’Milya Francis Wel’Andra Francis Research Officer in the A Conservation Biologist Associate dentist at the office A trader international Research Department, of Dr. Sparkman Ferguson banking industry Central Bank of the Bahamas Nassau, Bahamas

The Ministry of Social Services and Community Development gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the following persons and companies in the publishing of this historical document: The Honourable Melanie Griffin, Minister of Social Services and Community Development Mrs. Barbara Burrows, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Social Services and Community Development Ms. Christine Campbell, First Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Women’s Affairs and the Staff of the Women’s Bureau Frederick Street Ms. Marion Bethel, Producer/Director, Video Documentary on The Women’s Suffrage Movement in The Bahamas, 1948-1962 Miss Aneesah Abdullah, COB Intern Ms. Paulette Adderley Zonicle, Senior Producer Mr. Addis T. Huyler, SIDDA Communication Group, Ltd. Mrs. Monique Francis Hinsey, Lyford Cay Foundation Families of the Suffraggettes Staff, Cabinet Office Mr. Matt Maura, Journalist, Bahamas Information Services Dr. Nicolette Bethel Mrs. Janice Knowles, First Assistant Secretary, Ministry of Education Mr. Jeremy Delancy, Ministry of Social Services and Community Development Gabrielle Misiewicz, Assistant to Marion Bethel Mr. Owen Stubbs Ms. Linda Stubbs The Tribune The Nassau Guardian Staff of the Ministry of Social Services and Community Development

Designed by:

Tel: 394-BOOK (2665) Mobile: (242) 448-8937 Email: info@siddagroup.com # 11 Shirley Street Plaza Nassau, N.P. Bahamas