February 12 - A little thought on women in Jamaica

Since we arrived I've noticed again and again how many of the people in high positions and the people who really get things done in this country are women. Camella Rhone, as Director General of the Ministry of Commerce, Science, and Technology, is a prime example. She is an intelligent and powerful woman in charge of a great deal in this country. She has been one of my father's closest contacts since his first trips here and has been instrumental in almost all of the connections we have made to forward our project. Barbara Blake Hannah, who often introduces herself as the mother of Makonnen, is much more than that. To me the most remarkable thing about her is the way she manages to transcend the unbelievable politics in this country to work with both Minister Paulwell (on the PNP side) and M.P. Seaga (on the JLP side). I have yet to find another Jamaican who has that same ability. Camille Facey of C&W (and her largely female team of lawyers) provides another example. She is the VP in charge of legal and regulatory issues for C&W and clearly a can-do sort of woman with a sharp mind. Carolyn Allen, Wayne's friend from UWI is a professor of english, and is now in charge of the Sherlock Center for the Perfoming Arts at UWI. And the list goes on, from Elizabeth Terry, to Maxine Reed, to Rebecca Tortello, to Shereece Williams...

I have little idea what explains this, but it is strikingly different from the U.S. where finding women at the highest level is still much more rare that it should be. Jamaica seems to be at least as sexist as the U.S. Gender roles are strong. Women are objectified and degraded in advertisements and popular music. I am wary of drawing conclusions from my small, subjective experiences here so far. The first thing to jump to my mind is the devastating effect of the drug trade on the young men in this country. We learned last night that over 400 people have been arrested for attempting to carry drugs out of the country since the year began. Only 34 of them were women. We see news of murders on the television each night, often more than one a day, in which both the victims and the killers are usually male. If this is the situation, many more women than men may make it to adulthood with the skills necessary to succeed as professors, business women, politicians, etc. The general sexism that clearly exists may not reduce to sexist treatment of particular women who are well-qualified for the positions they seek. Of course the causes and effects cannot be so simple. I suspect I'll find this little analysis naive before my stay in Kingston is over.