Dwight Morton and Marjorie Morton
Charlestown Nevis
April 22, 2009
Nevis will make Commonwealth history on Thursday, when it plays host to the second Commonwealth Parliamentary Association’s (CPA) Commonwealth Women Parliament (CWP) Conference, at the Mount Nevis Hotel. The event will be held from April 23-26.
Honorary Secretary of the Nevis Branch of the CPA Mr. Dwight Morton, told the Department of Information ahead of the forum, that at least 10 islands were slated to attend, among them Trinidad and Tobago, Montserrat, Bermuda, Anguilla, Jamaica, Grenada, Dominica and host country Nevis which will be represented by President of the Nevis Island Assembly Mrs. Marjorie Morton.
The theme for the Conference would be “Harnessing and Capitalising on the Capabilities of our Women Parliamentarians to Impact the Legislative Agenda” but Mr. Morton explained that there would be a number of sub topics to be discussed – “Toward a United Front for Addressing Women’s Issues for the region”; “Women’s Perspectives at All Levels of Decision Making is not Only Vital but Critical” and “Women Offering Themselves for Political Office are Under Greater Scrutiny by the Electorate than Their Male Counterparts”.
He said he was hopeful that the outcome of the discussions would be compiled at the end of the conference and would be made available to Women Parliamentarians across the Region and locally. He explained that the event was planned to spotlight women.
“We want to bring focus to women and show the world that women parliamentarians have a very important role to play and we want to encourage local women to get more involved in parliamentary matters because the capabilities are there. It’s just a question of women willing to come forward and offer themselves for this very important and worthwhile activity”.
“There are many women all over the world who are playing an important part in parliamentary matters so that is something that we need to catch up with in this region,” he said.
According to Mr. Morton, at least 16 countries had previously given an undertaking to attend the event but some had since declined due to economic constraints.
