Nashauna Drummond, Staff Reporter
THE HUSBAND and wife team of Steve and Stephanie James of Shakti Productions in Guadeloupe, have put women in the centre of Caribbean television with their Television magazine, 'Women West Indies'.
Launched in Guadeloupe last September after three years of preparation, the programme features Caribbean women from all walks of life - from civil servants to housewives. In the programme, women talk about their lives and what it means to be a West Indian woman.
ENGAGING PORTRAITS
During last months' Touch of France Expo at the Hilton Kingston Hotel, New Kingston, Jamaicans got a view of their Caribbean sisters through the eyes of Caribbean women. The short (13 minutes each) but engaging portraits of four of the women were shown - environmentalist Molly Gaskin of Trinidad; Jamaican broadcaster Beverly Anderson-Manley; painter and writer Ruby Bute of Saint Marteen; and journalist Jenny Ramautarsing of Suriname. A portrait of Jamaican storyteller Amina Blackwood-Meeks is to be added.
Producer Stephanie James noted that the programme was developed to "address the lack of exposure of our people and of locally produced programmes where so much of what we watch is from overseas". She continued, "If you don't see yourself its like you don't exist".
She credits the idea to her husband Steve James who told Flair that he wanted to do a programme that was distinctively Caribbean. "We needed something that anchors the Caribbean, and that's women. It could have been culture or music but I wanted something that has never been done before".
Stephanie noted that women play an important role in society but they are often not promoted. "We hope it will contribute to greater recognition of ourselves and our wonderful mothers, sisters, daughters, aunties, and to better understanding and co-operation among the Caribbean countries and islands."
Woman West Indies is being shown on national television stations in (French Overseas territories) all-overseas French Departments in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean, Pacific, and in France. The programme is also to be launched in St. Lucia, Dominica and Trinidad with the hope of later having it shown throughout the entire Caribbean.
The first series comprises 30 portraits from 18 destinations. The programme is sponsored in part by INTERREG (Inter regional) fund created by the European Community.
"Our hope is that it will be an inspiration for the whole region, and not only for our women, but also men and youth and that it will help them value themselves and turn to role models who are their real neighbours, instead of having European or American standards constantly thrown at them through the media," said Stephanie James.
