Nashauna Drummond, Staff Reporter
Dr. Glenda Simms didn't expect to have such an impact. - RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
'Feminism is when you can differentiate between yourself and a doormat,'
WORDS OF one of Jamaica's leading feminists, Dr. Glenda Simms. Former executive director of the Bureau of Women's Affairs (BWA), Dr. Simms came from a background of farmers and shopkeepers in Stanmore, St. Elizabeth. She notes that she's been a feminist from the day she was born. She said growing up, she observed how women were treated and decided she was not going to be anybody's doormat.
The eldest of nine children, Dr. Simms didn't expect to have such an impact. She went to Bethlehem Teachers' College and notes that at that time you either became a nurse, or teacher or you worked in the post office. She attributes much of her achievement to her great grandmother Henrietta Johnson. "I had a great grandmother who loved me and raised me to make me feel important. From her I feel I could do anything I wanted to do."
CANADIAN CONNECTION
Dr. Simms emigrated to Canada in 1966 to teach. In 1967 her husband Headley Simms arrived in Canada, with their children: Michelle, Emil and Shaun the following a year later.
Her first teaching assignment was in northern Alberta with the aborigines of Canada. She later finished her Master's degree at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. She said she had no plans to do her PhD but one of the professors was so impressed with her work he encouraged her and she applied to the University of Lethbridge and completed her doctorate in educational psychology. She then taught at universities in Alberta, Sasquachan and Ontario before being appointed as President of the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women in January 1990.
"Everyone was surprised that I was appointed by a progressive conservative government, notes Dr. Simms. She was the first black woman appointed to that post and she said her appointment by then president Brian Mulroney was based on the fact that she was a champion for women's right. She was also founding member and President of the Congress of Black Women.
LIFE AT BWA
Dr. Simms return to Jamaica began in 1995 when she attended the Beijing conference on the status of women as part of the Canadian delegation. At the conference she actively sought out the Jamaican delegation led by the Hon. Portia Simpson-Miller. She asked me if I would consider coming back to Jamaica to assist in getting the BWA positioned to become more influential in the society.
The BWA to which Dr. Simms came in 1996 was a very low level and marginalised institution. She notes that the physical infrastructure was very inadequate as it was in a corner of the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) building on Ripon Road. "It was (at times) like a miniature market not in keeping with the dignity of Jamaican women. We needed that environment to be creative and it has to be the environment that says 'we respect women." She said Minister Simpson understood what needed to be done and secured for the bureau its current location at 4 Ellesmere Road. Since their relocation Dr. Simms says they have made tremendous breakthroughs in setting up a library and research centre.
ACHIEVEMENTS
After 10 years, Dr. Simms leaves the agency feeling that she had done a good job. "I have articulated the real issues of a wide cross-section of Jamaican women. Wheter they are kept is not my responsibility I did a good job better than I did in Canada. Having left, no one can come in and say I never did a good job that's my mantra. I've impacted a first world and third world countries."
During her tenure, the institution has reviewed 42 pieces of legislation. She noted that these pieces of legislation needed to be reviewed to so that all systematic barriers that work against women and girls could be removed.
She says she has succeeded in taking the BWA "to a level in the country where it is a household concept. People know that we are speaking for women. When I walk on the street and boys and girls see and say they like the work that I'm doing that's not just a personal achievement but one for the institution. So many men validate the work that we do".
Though Jamaica ratified the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CDAW), they had not sent in any report since 1988. "I had to put together the reports. When I left the reports were up to date".
REGRET
Dr. Simms says her only regret is that the organisation has not been as effective as it could have been in the innercity. "I find that inner-city communities are more politicised and tribal than rural Jamaica. When I'm in rural Jamaica people don't need to talk about a political party. My experience in the innercity is that it is very political, very tribalised and it is almost always in your face. I work for the people and I get frustrated when I'm not able to forget colour, race or political affiliation."
However Dr. Simms notes that funds have Bureau earmarked for work in inner-city communities.
Life After BWA
As of August 9, Dr. Simms registered her consultancy company, Simms Consulting, specialising in gender issues. Dr. Simms is currently an expert on the CEDAW committee an appointment that ends in 2008. In the interim she will still be involved and concerned with the gender issues that exist in Jamaica. Particularly the low self-esteem that still exists among Jamaican women. She said, "Despite educational achievement women are still parading for the attention of male. I don't think they (men) are as convinced as the women are. It will take respect and intelligence not his pocketbook but his character. The system is such that it's designed to frustrate progressive movement". Her other concern is the feminisation of HIV/AIDS which she says is a threat to our development.
GLENDA'S SHAMBA
Dr. Simms has never lost touch with her roots. She currently operates a two-acre farm in Malvern where she grows herbs such as: rosemarie, dill, chives and parsley. These are currently distributed in Sovereign Supermarket under the label Glenda's Shamba. She said the idea came to her during a woman's conference in Nairobi Kenya in 1985. While there she stayed with a family and her host pointed out to her that all the vegetables on the table were from her shamba (equivalent to a vegetable garden).
Dr. Simms divorced in 1980 and remarried in 1992. She describes her first divorce as a very painful experience for them both as they had been through so much together in their 19-year marriage. However her second marriage she notes was for the wrong reasons. She noted that her children were now all grown and branched out and for the first she was alone.
In her quite moments Dr. Simms reads. She reads a lot of non-fiction and though not a fan of fiction she is a fan of Harry Potter, "I do enjoy reading Harry Potter novels the author is a phenomenal woman." Dr. Simms' final legacy (which is not in the near future) will be a book for young people, which she says, will be her contribution to Jamaican people.
