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Politics News Blog Archives
Politics News Blog posts insightful comments on the latest international news that render us taken-aback in the domain of the politics facet of life. Politics News Blog: Women-in-Politics News 1 WOMEN IN POLITICS - Paving the way to Parliament: Tuesday | July 24, 2007 by Hartley Neita
THE FIRST woman to be elected to a Municipal Council was Mary Morrison Knibb. She won a seat on the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation Council in 1939 through the support of and campaigning of a group of some of the most formidable women in Jamaica. It was a historic first. The men who fought against her election were flabbergasted; the women celebrated. One man even said he would prefer if women remained at what they were good at - managing households and rearing babies. Politics News Blog: Women in Politics News 1 (Continued)
Morris-Knibb subsequently sought to win a seat in the House of Representatives in 1944, but was soundly defeated. In 1944, the only woman who won a seat was Iris Collins in St. James. Women more nationally known such as Edith Dalton James lost. Before 1944, the qualifications to become an elected member of the House discriminated against women. These called for, among other things, "a clear annual income of £150 arising from lands belonging to him in his own right or in the right of his wife. Every male over the age of 21 was entitled to vote, together with a number of income qualifications. Women, however, could not become eligible to vote until they were 25 years of age, paid taxes of at least £2 per year and, in addition, they had to be literate. Politics News Blog: Women in Politics News 1 (Continued)
These restrictions were removed in 1944 when all Jamaicans - men and women - over the age of 21 were entitled to vote and women no longer had to go through the indignity of taking a literacy test to prove they could read and write. The fact that no one ever expected women to be elected to the House of Representatives, Iris Collins made waves when she won and entered to take her seat without wearing a hat. The Speaker had to quickly consult the clerks and it was only then discovered that while there were regulations that women sitting in the Strangers' Gallery were required to wear hats, nothing in the Code of Conduct directed what form of dress or headgear should be worn by female members. Politics News Blog: Women in Politics News 1 (Continued)
From one woman in Parliament in1944, there are now six. And there are some 13 women seeking to enter Gordon House after the next general elections. And incidentally, Portia Simpson Miller is not first woman to be elected president of a political party in Jamaica. Before the 1944 General Election, there was a party - the JAG Smith Party and it was headed by Amy Ashwood Garvey, the first wife of Marcus Garvey. Later, during the 1960s, Madam Rose Leon also headed a political party. Both parties did not last long. Society News Blog Comment: Why is it that there are considerably less women in politics ratio wise than in any other profession in the world? Does it not tell of their being more democratic by nature as compared with men? Women are less aggressive than men are. They do not want to dominate others as much as men do. That is what the definition of politics is! It were men who waged the most fatal political wars in the history of mankind. Women might not have done so, had they been at the helm of affairs. May be the world would have lived a more peaceful life then, and a more democratic one! I invite you to subscribe to my E-zine titled Life Coach, free of charge. This E-zine publishes insightful comments on the latest international news that render us taken-aback in the domains of various facets of life. A not-to-be-missed opportunity! Subscribe to it here: I also invite you to subscribe to my Life Blog - no need to provide your e-mail address here. This RSS feed keeps you informed about new developments taking place on this site. It also harbors 25 journal bloglets posting insightful comments on the latest international news that render us taken-aback in the domains of various facets of life. In order to subscribe to the blog, right-click on the orange RSS button (see buttons up to the left) and then paste the URL into your RSS reader. Or click on add to My Yahoo! button or My MSN or Add To Google button if you keep a personalized home page there. If you are not sure what RSS or blogging is all about, click on What's an RSS Feed? here:
Return from Women in Politics to Definition of Politics
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