Minister Broomes honoured at ‘Women 4 Guyana’ event

DPI, Guyana, Friday, March 9, 2018

Minister within the Ministry of Natural Resources, Simona Broomes was among several women honoured last evening at the ‘Women 4 Guyana’ International Women’s Day Celebration 2018. The event held at the Marian Academy Auditorium was organised by Author and Broadcaster, Selwyn Collins.

Minister Broome who founded the Guyana Women Miners Association in 2012, often frequented the hinterlands where she witnessed the discrimination and abuse of women and human trafficking of young girls. This made her more determined to expose these injustices in the hidden parts of Guyana.

Minister Broomes in her moving address to the gathering spoke of her experiences as a female in a male-dominated field and the experiences in fighting for women’s rights.

“I was incarcerated innocently…the most painful thing is to sit there fighting for other’s lives…being assaulted by a male and a system…just to realise that I’m the person on the bench. Did I stop there? Or sit on that bench and cry? No, I did not, I pushed back, I yelled…’’

Referring the popular hashtag Press for Progress, there was a strong call to motivate and unite friends, colleagues and whole communities to think, act and be gender inclusive.

Other women honoured at the night’s event were award-winning journalist Sherry Ann Dixon, a transformational lecturer and keynote speaker who is passionate about women’s  empowerment; Attorney-at-law Lady Joseph, founding partner of the law firm Chapman & Trotman; England-based Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Samantha Tross, who was the first black British woman to become a consultant Orthopedic surgeon; Rosalind Kilkenny McLymont, a journalist and executive editor; Dr. Asante Van West-Charles-Le Blanc, a clinical densitomerist and medical herbalist and businesswoman Han Granger-Gaskin, owner of Topaz Jewelry.

International Women’s Day celebrates women’s achievements worldwide and throughout history.

 

By: Nateshia Isaacs