Vernon Daley

A

year ago, Portia Simpson Miller was ushered into the top job in politics by a national chorus of 'woman time now'. This was a singular milestone in the history of the country. No decent Jamaican would have begrudged the Prime Minister the joy of being the first among her female folk to break through the ultimate political glass ceiling.

It doesn't seem, though, that she has done too much since assuming office to open up the space for more women to make an impact in the political arena.

Worsening equation

The candidates' list for the governing People's National Party (PNP) shows eight women on the slate for the next general election compared with the 13 the party put up in 2002. There are still four of the 60 constituencies left to be settled but even if they all go to women, the gender equation in the governing party has decidedly worsened.

I thought the Prime Minister would have gone for more women and not less. But maybe she just didn't have enough time to focus on these matters what with Trafigura, Cricket World Cup and all the rest of it pressing down on her shoulders.

The Opposition Jamaica Labour Party hasn't really made women a priority either. Of its full slate of candidates, only seven are women, this is just one more than the number in 2002. The party's supporters, I suppose, will argue that it's still an improvement.

By the way, the last general election saw a record 31 women running for office. Back then, we had a number of other smaller parties, including the New Jamaica Alliance and Antonnette Haughton-Cardenas' United People's Party but by the looks of it they won't be joining us this election.

I have no intention to start a crusade to get more women involved in politics. The gender activists are far more equipped to wage that war.

But, my feeling is that it would be a good thing generally to have a greater representation of women, at least in Parliament.

I'm told that in the Nordic countries there is an average of 45 per cent women MPs. In the Americas, the figure is lower with the United States at 15 per cent and Canada at 21 per cent. In Jamaica, the figure is about 12 per cent.

There is no need to resort to constitutional quota systems which the more extreme feminists have advocated to remedy the imbalance.

It's not beyond the political parties to invest a little more time and resources in attracting, training and supporting women so they may become politically viable candidates.

Shown Ugly side

But even as I speak (or write) of the desirability to have greater female participation in the politics, it has to be said that some of the current and past female parliamentarians have not shown us a better path. They have taken on and even mastered some of the most baleful aspects of the political culture.

Who can forget Aloun Assamba's public comments that she had stacked a civic committee in her constituency with PNP supporters? That was an ugly thing. She was good enough to apologise for it but it would have been better had she resigned.

We should want more women in the politics but if we are merely swapping a black dog for a better looking monkey, then it can't be worth the trouble of getting them involved in the first place.

In fact, some mischievous people take the 'woman time now' slogan to mean that it is now women's turn to mash up the country. I hope they are wrong.