Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer Women Resource Outreach Centre (WROC) takes this opportunity to express our solidarity with women all over Jamaica, in the Caribbean region and globally in celebrating International Women's Day (IWD) on March 8.
We at WROC share and salute the determination that the majority of women of all backgrounds, from town and country, show every day in holding together our families despite the pressure and pain that we face daily. We express our solidarity with our Prime Minister, The Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller for her tireless efforts to hold this nation together across the divisiveness that persists.
Signpost
IWD is a signpost in the long struggle against gender discrimination which continues in our society. It is a day when we affirm our bonds as sisters in a common struggle; a time to renew our determination, and emphasise our claim to economic, social and political rights.
As women, we have to step up to a higher level in 2007. This is the year to know our rights under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW); to demand more strongly that the Government partners with us as women in securing our human rights under this convention, which was ratified by Jamaica many years ago.
This year, our men must also step up and get serious about their obligation to challenge the stereotypes of masculinity that drive negative behaviours among them. This is the year when men should seek to support women in promoting gender equality and women's empowerment for the strengthening of our homes, communities and nation.
- WROC
General
Gladys Hyatt
Confucius says: "It is not possible for one to teach others who cannot teach his own family." And Gladys Hyatt has proven she can do that, and then some.
This 62-year-old has contributed 33 years of service to one public school, and in the process taught two of her three children there.
Dr. Hyatt made her way up the system from teacher to vice-principal and finally principal of the Braeton Primary and Junior High School, St. Catherine. She retired in 2005.
Dr. Hyatt's journey into teaching began by chance when she left school at 17 and applied to be a nurse, but was refused because she was too young. However, she never regretted her next choice, becoming a teacher, and often wondered why she wanted to become a nurse in the first place.
With a diploma in education from Mico Teachers' College, a Bachelor of Arts and a master's in education Ad-ministration and most recently, a doctoral in religious studies and counselling, she is currently the principal of the kindergarten and prep school at the Waltham Education Centre.
Dr. Hyatt does not only focus on education, but also on giving back to the community. She often visits the sick and feeds those in need in communities around Portmore, such as Southborough and Naggo Head. For her efforts she received the Governor-General's Award for outstanding citizen in 2003.
Sandra Bramwell Riley
Fluent in nine languages and in the process of adding Chinese to the list, Sandra Bramwell Riley is not only an educator but a counsellor and philanthropist.
Her flair for languages has given her work translating documents on nuclear weapons and peace armaments for the United Nations. She has also translated Hollywood movies, songs and contracts for Jamaican reggae artists Pinchers, Jimmy Riley and Culture.
Riley is also founder of Versan Educational Services Limited, which has been responsible for helping a number of Jamaican students get prime placement in Ivy League colleges abroad. She has received Teacher of the Year Citation Awards from MIT and Stanford for consistently producing excellent students.
Born in a family with five sibling, Mrs. Riley began helping other Jamaicans when tragedy struck. One of her sisters Bramwell, died at of 44 from renal failure. Before her death she requested her belongings be donated to charity. Riley subsequently established the Hopie Fund, which raises money to educate persons about and contribute to dialysis centres and hospitals to aid people with kidney disease. Last year, they raised and spent $400,000 towards the cause.
