Seated front row- Minister of Social Services, Information & Broadcastiing Myles Laroda. Back row, (l-r) – Minister of State for Urban Renewal Lisa T. Rahming, Spouse of the Prime Minister Mrs. Anne Marie Davis; Permanent Secretary, Min. of Social Services, Information & Broadcasting Mrs. Phedra Rahming- Turnquest; President of the Senate J. Lashell Adderley
On the heels of a powerful 13th Commonwealth Women’s Affairs Ministers Meeting (13WAMM) hosted in The Bahamas last year, Minister of Social Services, Information and Broadcasting Hon. Myles Laroda told the United Nations 68th Session on the Commission on the Status of Women that through legislation, financing, and international activism, The Bahamas is working to champion the rights of women andgirls everywhere.
CSW is the United Nations’ largest annual gathering on gender equality and women’s empowerment. CSW68 takes place March 11-22, 2024 at the United Nation’s Headquarters in New York, USA.
Minister Laroda led a delegation of government officials and NGO representatives attending the meeting. He spoke at a number of events, working to advance The Bahamas’ position on women’s empowerment, protection, advancement, and gender equality.
He said the Bahamas’ role in the global advancement of women was solidified by 13WAMM, which took place in August, 2023 – the same month that the Bahamas Government passed the Protection Against Violence Act “to provide for a national strategy to prevent and respond to the occurrence of violence and to protect victims of violence”.
Six months later, at CSW68, Minister Laroda encouraged Commonwealth counterparts to take a unified approach to ensure that the Roadmap for women, signed in The Bahamas during 13WAMM, is truly effective in impacting gender and climate change; the economic empowerment of women; women in leadership; violence against women and girls; and the inclusion of persons with disabilities.
COMMONWEALTH CONSULTATIONMinister Laroda addressed the CSW’s side event: Commonwealth Annual Consultation with National Women’s Machineries/Senior Officials, Commonwealth Roadmap for women’s affairs. There, he heralded the Roadmap in support of the Commonwealth Declaration on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowermen2t (2022-2030) as critical to women’s advancement. He hailed the progressive work of his predecessor, the late Hon. Obediah Wilchcombe, for leading the charge for women’s advancement as Chair of 13WAMM.
Women’s economic empowerment, Minister Laroda said, is vital to women’s advancement. As such, his Ministry’s Department of Gender and Family Affairs (DGFA) partnered with The Bahamas Development Bank (BDB) to conduct an inspiring workshop for women entrepreneurs under the theme “Economically Empowered” Held on International Women’s Day, Friday, March 8, 2024.
WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT
Minister Laroda also spoke at CSW68’s Ministerial Roundtable on the theme:“Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective”.
“The Government of The Bahamas has three principal strategic initiatives, among others, in its commitment to advancing equitable financial empowerment of women and girls,” Minister Laroda said, and two of the three are led by women. The initiatives are: gender mainstreaming of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); increase training and capacity of women in STEM and non-traditional technical subjects; and the provision of digital social services.
At the forefront, the SDGs Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister is tasked with gender mainstreaming within our country’s institutions implementation of the SDGs. The Bahamas Development Bank is one of the institutions through which gender mainstreaming is being developed, with a goal to increase women’s role in the industrial development of The Bahamas.
In STEM, institutions like the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute are promoting the development of women in non-traditional fields to create an impact on individual and community development and resilience.
The Social Protection Management Information System (ProMIS) in The Bahamas is strengthening the Department of Social Services’ ability to provide digital services to 33,000 households, Minister Laroda told the roundtable, adding that some 70 percent of its clients are women.
WOMEN AND CLIMATE CHANGEMinister Laroda also spoke at the side event: “Gender Equality and Climate Change – Commonwealth perspectives”, an event cohosted by the Bahamas and the Commonwealth.
Two Bahamian women scientists spoke on the panel at this high-level event: Dr. Rhianna Neely, Director of the Bahamas Department of Environmental Planning and Protection; and Dr. Adele Thomas, Vice Chair of Working Group II, Intergovernmental Panel on. Climate Change.
“Last summer, The Bahamas recorded ocean temperatures in excess of 93 degrees Fahrenheit that resulted in massive coral reef die offs across the archipelago,” Minister Laroda said.
“This is in addition to the continued spread of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease that our reef builders have been exposed to, since 2019. Needless to say, climate change continues to be the single biggest challenge of our generation.”
“I am extremely encouraged to stand among this group of highly motivated professionals, pursuing to elevate the public policy discourse on climate change and its impact on the most vulnerable among our populations – women and girls, as well as persons with disabilities.”Minister Laroda said in championing the rights of women, gaps that exist must be tracked, including: lack of equal pay for equal work; gender-based violence including sexual violence; harassment; underrepresentation in the decision-making arena;, and decreased access to economic opportunities and gender-responsive financing. Women, he said, comprise more than 50 percent of the Bahamian population, and are one of the country’s greatest resources.
Source: Felicity Darville
More photo highlights below:
Bahamian government and non-government officials attending the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68) at the UN Headquarters,, New York, USAThe Bahamas championed the rights of women, who are dispraportionately affected by climate change, by hosting a specisl side event in partnership with The Commonweslth during the 68th Commion on the Status of Women, UN Headquarters, New YorkMinisters Myles Laroda and Lisa T. Rahming gather outside of the UN Headquarters in New York with Government officials, NGOs, activists and youth delegates from Akhepran International Academy during the 68th Commision on the Status of women
