St Maarten Speaker calls for renewed global commitment for gender equality

THE Speaker of Parliament of Saint Maarten, Sarah Wescot-Williams has warned that gains made over the past three decades remain vulnerable amid new and emerging threats.

She has therefore called for urgent global action to accelerate gender equality.

She said this in Accra last Thursday at the opening of the 3rd International Conference on Gender Equality (ICGE 2025).

The three-day conference was attended by delegates from Africa, Caribbean and Europe and held under the theme “Charting the next frontier, to advance gender equality in developing economies in post 30 years Beijing declaration.”

She also challenged delegates to confront the unfinished work of the 1995 Beijing declaration and platform for action.

“30 years later, the promise of Beijing remains unfinished, and we do not have the luxury of time. Every barrier to the equality of women and girls anywhere becomes a threat to all of us.”

Mrs Wescot-Williams, who is also a gender advocate, emphasised that achieving gender equity requires more than acknowledging the problem.

She said it demands structural reforms and argued that although progress has been made in representation, education, and legal protections, women remain underrepresented in the spaces where the most critical decisions were made.

She urged governments to adopt gender-responsive budgets, strengthen parliamentary committees focused on gender affairs, and expand leadership pipelines for young women.

The Speaker warned that without intentional empowerment, gender equity will remain an aspiration rather than a lived reality.

On her part, the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Dr Agnes Naa Momo Lartey reiterated the need to protect women and girls, particularly in domestic spaces where discrimination and violence are often hidden.

Dr Lartey, stressed the need for survivor-centered systems that address the emotional, psychological, and social effects of gender-based violence.

She highlighted the persistence of sexual and physical abuse within families, a subject often shrouded in silence, saying, “we cannot speak of equity when girls are unsafe in their own homes,” she said.

She reaffirmed the country’s commitment to advancing gender equality, describing the Beijing declaration as one of the most progressive global compacts on women’s empowerment.

According to the Minister, the Beijing conference has often been misinterpreted as a movement for women to dominate men and clarified that the declaration instead called for equal opportunities, dignity and full participation for women and girls.

By Esinam Jemima Kuatsinu

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