Inaugural Women in Law Enforcement summit: Guyana made great strides to ensure equal opportunities for women – Teixeira

Women’s rights are being fought for all over the world; and, in Guyana, great strides have been made to ensure that women have equal access to opportunities.
While addressing the two-day inaugural Women in Law Enforcement summit held on Thursday at the Police Officers’ Mess Annexe, Eve Leary, Georgetown, Governance and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Gail Teixeira said that while Guyana has made a lot of achievements in this regard, women around the world are still unable to access equal opportunities as their counterparts do.

“One of the critical things, I think, in the women’s movement is the issue of the link between human rights, democracy and development. Without human rights and democracy, there can be no development, and women are the greatest sufferers when there is no democracy and no development”, the veteran politician emphasised in her brief remarks.
As the achievements of women are being celebrated in recognition of the International Women’s Day campaign theme for 2023 – Embrace Equity – Teixeira cautioned against overlooking that women are still faced with terrible conditions, including climate change disasters, natural disasters, civil wars, and limited access to reproductive health services.
In relation to the latter issue, the Minister alluded to a 2022 ruling by the United States of America’s Supreme Court, which has essentially banned abortion in certain states. According to her, women must have a right to choose what they want, and have access to reproductive health services.
Irrespective of a person’s age, ethnicity, geographical location, gender, or social class, Minister Teixeira reminded, everyone is “equal” under the Constitution of Guyana.
“Equality is our right,” she said, while adding that equity has to do with how programmes, policies, and laws are structured to ensure that everyone can access services offered in society.
“Women are grasping and seizing at opportunities. They are open to learning and participating in everything, because women in workforces are trying to work to support their families, trying to better themselves in their own desires as what they want to become as women and manage families and expected to climb and do well,” she highlighted.
Meanwhile, acting Commissioner of Police, Clifton Hicken, said that despite the many challenges, women are rulers of states and military organisations. “We must embrace equality before we can have a just and equitable society for all groups. We cannot have fairness or justice without equality,” noted the Top Cop, while revealing that women account for 22 per cent of the Police Force.
Embracing equality embraces a level playfield for men and women to have equal access to resources and opportunities for a productive, innovative, and thriving environment, he added.
Women, historically known to be nurturers, according to Hicken, have evolved into masterpieces and champions of society, and this is why men and women need to continue to collaborate to shape the ever-changing world. “Women deserve full equality,” he remarked.
The Police Force has said that the summit, which is being held in collaboration with its Community Relations Department, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce (GCCI), and the Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (WCCI), seeks to bring together several diverse representatives and prominent business leaders in one location.
Human resource management, skills and behaviours, communication skills, team building, decision-making, gender disparities, emotional intelligence, and planning the path to entrepreneurship are some of the competency areas that are being targeted.
“The summit’s goals are to actively promote and support inclusivity, while fostering open and honest dialogues, activities to improve one’s professional and personal abilities, and the overall growth and development of female law enforcement professionals.”
Further, the summit will seek to address the difficulties faced by female law enforcement officers, and aid in strengthening their resilience and responses, including exchanging personal and professional experiences. The summit will also provide instructor-led, one-on-one counselling to encourage emotional intelligence development, while fostering closer working relationships between women in the Public and Private Sectors with a focus on empowering women.
At the end of the conference, participants will be able to identify techniques to empower each other, discover tactics to thrive in their profession, and achieve their goals, among other benefits.
The two-day summit is being held under the theme “Embrace Equity”, and will conclude today.
Besides Teixeira and Hicken, others present at the summit’s opening included Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Mae Toussaint Jr. Thomas; President of the GCCI, Timothy Tucker; Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack, SC; Crime Chief, Attorney-at-Law Wendell Blanhum; other senior and junior Police officers and special invitees. (G1)