“Instead of the iron fist in a velvet glove we were promised on the hustings, we are treated to sash wearing, truck-bed riding, magazine posing, beauty queen behavior while the country is circling the drain. I pointed out during the campaign that she offered nothing of substance then, and sadly she offers nothing of substance now. You CANNOT run a country on platitudes and photo ops, regardless of what the fashion magazines say. It simply does not work that way. The people are sick to death of the ‘drunk on the party line’ talking heads who simply regurgitate cultic drivel for points and props and are desperate for something like calm, cohesive and sensible governance.

“Kamla Persad-Bissessar may not fully understand that being the first female Prime Minister comes with tremendous responsibility; Her moment in the sun is ‘pregnant’ with the aspirations of every woman behind her, desperate to be seen as equals in the male-dominated world of top level politics and not just as sidekicks and bag holders. It is not too late to save her legacy, but it is almost too late. Only Kamla knows the truth here, and while she may have little control over what she was, she still has the final say in who she allows herself to be, now and in the future. Having kicked open the door to what was formerly a man’s world, it would be tragically ironic if her actions and her legacy shuts it hard against other deserving women of substance in the future.”

I wrote the above in an article entitled ‘Vagina Politics’ in 2010 and chose to revisit it in 2012 to see what, if anything, had changed. Has the condition of women and women issues in society improved two years into the term of this country’s first female Prime Minister? One could be excused for expecting that by now the Cabinet, the Senate and every manner of institution and available appointment would be populated by strong women of substance and character but sadly, the complete opposite is true.

Appearing not to care about the seemingly ‘unimportant’ things like precedents and conventions, our Prime Minister has done an even poorer job of securing women’s issues to date than her male counterparts before her and may well have set women in leadership back decades by her example. In a country whose cup literally runneth over with many, many extremely creative, supremely qualified and talented women in all spheres of artistic, intellectual and other pursuits who are capable of leading at the highest level it is a shame that whatever male-driven insecurities surround her are being allowed to prosper.

In place of the anticipated elevation of women on her watch our culture is instead rampant with the marginalisation of women as sex objects and the relegation of that gender to trivial pursuits with little or no regard to any other contribution they may want to make. The rise in overtly sexist and demeaning positions from some religious quarters where women and their issues are concerned is very telling as to the ‘mood’ in society, and in corporate T&T the message seems to be you may have an MBA but you better have cleavage if you want to advance.

All things being equal and under normal circumstances she is legally entitled to at least a further three years in her current term, and if a day is a long time in politics, then three years is sufficient time for her to undo the damage she herself is doing. Not even men want to live in an exclusively man’s world as it is a dirty, confrontational, greedy and abrasive place. I would go so far as to say women make us men better, and if that is the case then we could use their help at the highest levels where, sadly, left to our own devices, we have made a terrible mess. Kamla needs to set the tone for society to follow and a good place to start would be by insisting on a 50-50 division of Ministries among men and women in her Cabinet and the inclusion of a women’s agenda. These two things alone would have a huge and positive impact on where we as a nation go from here, and would go a long way to securing her a legacy worthy of this country’s first female Prime Minister.

Phillip Edward Alexander