It’s International Women’s Day- A call for action

Lisa Shoman:Happy International Women’s Day to all my sisters! Today is not only an occasion to CELEBRATE YOU, but also to reflect, and more importantly, for me, it is a day to CALL YOU TO ACT.

My message to you today is about the Manifesto For Linda on which I have been working with others.

Women and girls are over half of the “Nation Builders” of Belize and yet we face disadvantages much greater than gender discrimination.

We are subjected to enduring, endemic cultural norms that place lower value on our lives, our value, or worth and our economic importance than those of our male counterparts.

We face domestic violence, abuse in the home, school and workplace, sexual and physical harassment, a gamut of sexual and other physical offences and an entrenched power patriarchy that refuses to acknowledge where the State of the Nation really is when it comes to women.

We are responsible for making change. Any change we want to see for ourselves, our mothers, our aunts, our sisters, cousins, little sisters, nieces, friends, we must make that change. We must make it now.

This Manifesto is a call to arms. It is an action agenda with practical changes, short, medium and long term that must be taken. These are urgent demands. We cannot wait for this change. It is not exhaustive, but it is extensive. It can be expanded. It ought not to be reduced or worse, ignored.

This Manifesto is inspired by the life – and death – of Hermelinda “Linda” Pinks Emmanuel; but it is also inspired by the lives of each and every one of her sisters and the children of Belize who have suffered and who still suffer from violence and crime at home, at school, at work in our Jewel.

Linda and all her sisters and our children will not rest in peace until we build a better Belize for women, girls and boys in our Jewel.

Be a part of our struggle. More on this manifesto can be found here: https://breakingbelizenews.com/2018/02/19/a-manifesto-for-linda/

The views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not necessarily those of Breaking Belize News. 

 

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