Gail Teixeira, a leader for equal rights for girls & women

We are delighted that, as Guyana joins our sisters and brothers around the world to observe International Women’s Day, a woman proudly sits in the seat as Guyana’s acting President.
The Honourable Gail Teixeira has served as a senior Government Minister and as a Parliamentarian for more than 34 years and has served Guyana as a fighter for freedom and democracy for over 53 years. The Permanent Mission in Guyana takes this opportunity to honour a woman of worth as we acknowledge Guyana’s leading role in the global struggle for equal rights for girls and women.
The Honourable Teixeira is one of the outstanding pioneers in Guyana’s fight for democracy and exemplifies the pivotal and architectural role that women have played in the fight for independence, freedom, and democracy. She continues to serve with vigour and dignity.
Gail Teixeira has already earned a special place in the annals of Guyana’s history.
In the global struggle for gender equality, Guyana has a proud record. As reported in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report, for gender equality, Guyana ranks 31st globally in 2025 and first in women’s health and survival. Globally, there is still a gap in women occupying seats in Parliament.
Guyana ranks among the countries that have made progress in reducing the gap, with its 39.4 per cent Parliamentary representation by women placing our country among those with the highest representation. About 35 per cent of the cabinet are women. In the judiciary, 70 per cent of the Judges are women. This places Guyana at the top in the Western Hemisphere.
There are other outstanding areas showing Guyana is making dramatic steps to eliminate gaps in gender equality. For example, Guyana has made significant progress in the global effort to eliminate cervical cancer, one of the leading cancers in women and one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in women.
In this regard, Guyana has significantly increased its investment in the fight against cervical cancer and has set an ambitious timeline, 2050, for the elimination of cervical cancer. Guyana is making reasonable progress in achieving the global 90-70-90 cervical cancer elimination targets for 2030 and is ahead of many developing countries.
On November 17th, 2020, member states of the WHO adopted the Global Strategy for Cervical Cancer Elimination. An important outcome of the strategy is for countries to achieve an incidence rate below four per 100,000 women. As a first step towards reaching this goal, countries must achieve the “90-70-90” targets by 2030.
The 90-70-90 targets are 90 per cent of girls vaccinated with the HPV vaccine before the age of 15; 70 per cent of women screened using a high-performance test by the age of 35 years and again by the age of 45; and 90 per cent of women with pre-cancer treated and 90 per cent of women with invasive cancer managed.
Further empowering women, since a housing subsidy programme was started by the Government, 85 per cent of housing subsidies have gone to women. It is noteworthy that women account for more than 60 per cent of house lot distribution, the highest in Latin America. In a genuine empowerment achievement, university-level graduation is now higher among women than men.
We are delighted that Guyana is on track to commission an MSME (micro-, small-, and medium-size) bank to support small entrepreneurs. Special efforts are being made to ensure women are empowered to become business owners and access interest-free loans. Moreover, initiatives like the Women’s Innovation and Investment Network (WIIN) have trained over 90,000 women in fields like ICT, entrepreneurship, and technical skills.
The mission acknowledges that, despite its valiant efforts, there are challenges in securing full gender equality in Guyana. The Government, the Women and Gender Equality Commission, the Parliament, the private sector, and civil society must collaborate to eliminate the gaps that exist.
For example, national efforts must be amplified in the fights:
• Against the high rates of gender-based violence, with one out of two women reporting intimate partner violence.
• For equal labour force participation, with only 38 per cent women participation vs 65 per cent for men.
The Government recognises that much more must be accomplished. For that reason, the mission acknowledges the enactment of the Family Violence Act 2024, replacing an older law, providing for a stronger legal framework to support victims.
In providing greater access to support services, the Government has established the 914 Hotline for women to safely report violence and sexual abuse, the I-Report app, and the Hope and Justice Centres. We also acknowledge the establishment of 24-hour day care programmes to enable more women with children to build careers.
Guyana can be proud of its continued efforts to achieve gender equality. The Permanent Mission is proud because Guyana can genuinely celebrate achievements while working for a perfect landscape for gender equality.

Dr Leslie Ramsammy
Permanent Mission of Guyana in Geneva, Switzerland