Martine Powers
The head of one of T&T’s most high-profile women’s groups will be stepping down for retirement next year after nearly a decade in the position. Hazel Brown, co-ordinator of the Network of NGOs of T&T for the Advancement of Women, said yesterday that she plans to vacate her position by June 2015. She made the announcement at the group’s biennial conference, which took place at the Radisson Hotel, Port-of-Spain, with about 30 members in attendance.
Brown became co-ordinator in 2006, but has been a member since the group was founded in 1984. “It’s time,” said Brown, who is 72 years old. “I think I’ve done what I wanted to do … I enjoy what I do, but I think this is a good time for a change, and for the organisation to benefit from a different style of leadership.”
The Network of NGOs is an umbrella organisation representing more than 100 non-profit groups focused on women’s and family issues. In recent years, the organisation has made headlines because of its efforts to convince government leaders to approve a national gender policy, which members believe would help guarantee civil rights and economic equality to women around the country.
Yesterday, the group passed a resolution that calls on Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to pick up the matter once again.
Brown said she believed some politicians had intentionally mischaracterised the details of the draft gender policy to prevent the document from passing, suggesting that the Network of NGOs supported the legalisation of abortion and same-sex marriage. Not so, Brown said, but the policy does seek to find solutions to teenage pregnancy and ban violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.
“A gender policy in Trinidad & Tobago would mean empowering women. It would mean allowing women their rightful place in society,” Brown said. “We call on Kamla to bring it up.” After Brown resigns, the organisation’s board of officers will be responsible for appointing a new co-ordinator.
Jacquie Burgess, the organisation’s director for advocacy and lobbying, said it would be a challenge to find a successor to match Brown’s energy and professional contacts. The co-ordinator has demonstrated that she is the country’s staunchest defender of the gender policy, Burgess added. “Hazel has inspired the members,” Burgess said. “Her regional and international connections really helped take the work of the network very far.”