The Tribune

By MORGAN ADDERLEY

THE Progressive Liberal Party’s newly elected leader will give women the encouragement they need so more of this demographic enters politics, former PLP MP Philip Galanis believes, adding the rough nature of the profession deters many women from entering.

“Brave will provide women with the encouragement to come forward,” Mr Galanis said Wednesday, as he acknowledged the need for more female political participation in the Bahamas.

Mr Galanis spoke at a Rotary Club of South-East Nassau meeting, where he was asked by a member about his views on the small number of women that ascend to top posts in the PLP.

Mr Galanis replied: “The bench with women is deeper than you think – there are lots of women who are interested in politics, they have just not been provided with the encouragement to come forward.”

Speaking to The Tribune afterwards, Mr Galanis elaborated: “Generally you don’t find women are inclined to get involved in politics because I think of the rough and tumble of it all, and you need to have very thick skin. So what has to happen is that more and more women need to be encouraged to participate at various levels, and I think that’s going to happen increasingly and remarkably with Mr Davis at the helm.”

Mr Galanis also suggested more women become involved in politics by joining the women’s branches of their parties and also becoming directly involved in their local constituencies as opposed to offering themselves as election candidates.

Glenys Hanna Martin, the first woman to challenge for the PLP’s leadership position, was soundly defeated by Mr Davis in a leadership race on Wednesday. Despite his interest in more women entering the political fray, Mr Galanis supported Mr Davis for the PLP’s top post.

Mr Galanis made it clear that while he has a “very high regard” for the Englerston MP, he supported Mr Davis because he is “best suited to rebuild, restructure, rebrand and re-engineer the PLP and restore the Party to its former glory days.”

International election observers have previously recommended an increase in the participation of women in front-line politics.

For the first time in Bahamian history, a team of observers from the Organisation of American States (OAS) was invited to observe the 2012 general election.

In a statement released in May of that year presenting its preliminary recommendations, the OAS noted that while 18,574 more women were registered to vote than men, this level of female participation was not reflected in the number of women candidates.

For that election year, only 22 of the 133 candidates who ran were women – about 16.5 per cent.

“[The year 2012] marks the 50th anniversary of women’s suffrage in the Bahamas,” said Alfonso Quinonez, chief of the mission for the observation team at the time.

“For this election there were, 18,574 more women than men registered as voters. However, the increased participation of women as voters has not yet translated into other key areas of political participation. Only 22 out of the 133 candidates for this election were women.”

While there were more women political contenders in the 2017 general election compared to the previous cycle, male candidates still made up the overwhelming majority.

The Democratic National Alliance (DNA) had 13 women candidates, seven ran for the PLP, four represented the Free National Movement (FNM), and four also represented the fledgling Bahamas National Coalition Party (BCP).