THE EDITOR, Sir:
THE RECENT victory of Minister Portia Simpson Miller is an indication that Jamaicans are exercising a level of maturity needed to lift us out of the doldrums into which this country has fallen. Yet there are laggards.
There are still those who think that a woman should not be allowed to lead, but if women are expected to follow when men are appointed leaders, why should they not be given a chance to lead if they exhibit the necessary potential?
The men in this country should not be squeamish about following the lead of a woman.
Have not most of us followed the dictates of a mother when we were infants and a mother was the most suitably equipped to tend to our needs? What we need is someone who has what it takes to get the job done; gender is not the issue.
Or perhaps it is. It is a known fact that our women have been socialised differently from our men. The women are less fearful of exhibiting more tender and compassionate feelings.
We need a compassionate leader to curb the atrocities that take place in the homes of children in foster care.
A leader who will stay the trigger fingers of a frightened security force to stem the wanton slaughter of our youth. A tender, but firm leader, who will show the youth, by example, the power of love and forgiveness, so as to stop their slaughter of each other.
Perhaps we suffer from an imbalance produced by too much callous male input. We have been rocked out of kilter. We need to balance the scales with some feminine interjection.
I am, etc.,
AMBROSE PADDYFOOTE
Bog, Carmel P.O.
Westmoreland
