THA hosts all-women public debate on March 8

Different perspectives on how to invest in and accelerate progress for Tobago women will be explored at March 8's all-female public sitting of the Assembly Legislature in Scarborough, to celebrate International Women’s Day. The debate will start at 10am.

THA Presiding Officer Abby Taylor told Newsday on March 4 that she is excited for the debate and looking forward to listening to the perspectives from a wide cross section of women.

"Firstly, I love the idea of an all-women sitting. Giving women a voice and encouraging constructive dialogue while allowing them to freely expr​ess ​themselves is empowering."

The theme of this year's International Women’s Day is Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress.

Taylor added, "The theme highlights the ongoing challenges women face, and emphasises the need for increased efforts and resources to overcome these hurdles. While progress has been made, acknowledging the existing disparities underscores the collective responsibility to drive meaningful change and empower women across various spheres."

The legislature’s special programmes co-ordinator Sophia Cooper said she too is excited.

“Definitely – definitely excited, I must say.”

She added: “It’s interesting because we have a lot of programmes geared towards women and so there is this idea that this might not be an issue, but then let’s look at what’s happening on the ground, whether or not that is having the impact.”

She said the theme is appropriate as she queried whether women are able to achieve financial independence through the available programmes.

She said March 8's debate will feature 15 women from various backgrounds.

“We have a number of people; they’re from constituencies, entrepreneurs, people who saw the ad and wanted to volunteer their time. It really does cover a range of energy, this kind of debate.”

She said usually people are selected from the various electoral districts.

“It was a little different this year where there was a registration process and members of the public were asked if they were interested. We tried it a little differently this year and we got the quota that we were looking for. We were actually worried about if people were interested, and they definitely were.”

She added: “So even right now, there is a training going on to give people a better idea of parliamentary procedures and really getting them ready.”

She said this this is not the first time the legislature is having a debate, nor is it the only special debate they have per year.

“This is all part of the Assembly Legislature’s push towards creating a space for members of the public to participate in their own democracy. Last year on International Women’s Day, the presiding officer launched what is now called – the People’s House. The idea is about how we integrate participation from the public into the function of the assembly legislature, which is to protect democracy.”

She said there are other special debates open to the public, and they are keen on adding more.

“We have a senior citizens' debate; we have Father’s Day coming up, Mother’s Day, and so every time there is a particular issue of interest – we don’t just want to people to see the (elected) members debating.”

She said there are also plans to include the students.

“We want to include the primary schools. We already have the secondary schools students who participate in the Tobago Day debate and that’s every single secondary school on the island. We want tertiary students to have a similar opportunity, we want people who are living with disabilities or the differently abled to also have their own debate.”

She added: “Essentially, what we are doing is giving voice to the voiceless and those who feel unheard.”