AAUW Dialog

Some people find their inspiration on the calm sands of a beach watching a brilliant, orange sunset. But the inspiration I found in Jamaica a few weeks ago was not from the soothing waves of the ocean but from the motivated women of the University of the West Indies in Mona, near Kingston.

This is my second year traveling to Jamaica as a part of our Elect Her–Campus Women Win training. During this trip, I learned even more from each of the students about their goals and dreams for their future and their country’s future.

UWI, Mona is a unique campus where close to 80 percent of students are women, and yet women make up only 40 percent of the student government. There have only been three female presidents in the history of the student government, but this may be the year for the fourth.

The current vice president of the student government, Stephanie Abrams, is running for president on campus. She has run for many positions starting from her years in high school and her involvement in Rotary International. Her mentality going into every election is that “even when you lose, you are not defeated.” She maintains her composure in any situation and aims to be calm in the face of opposition.

Sanikah Allen, a student leader in Mary Seacole Hall, organized the Elect Her–Campus Women Win training this year with a team of peers. She opened the training with an inspiring quote from the book Secrets of Powerful Women. “There is something special that happens when you get a group of powerful women in a room … and shut the door,” wrote Andrea Wong. Allen was given this book as an attendee at the 2010 National Conference for College Women Student Leaders.

Leith Dunn, senior lecturer and head of the Institute of Gender and Development Studies, attended the training to share the global perspective of women’s participation in government. Out of 60 members of Parliament in Jamaica, only eight are women. This ranks Jamaica as 88th in the world when it comes to women’s political representation. Dunn works on a U.N. Women Democracy Fund grant to build women’s political participation throughout the Caribbean. Dunn is thrilled to have Elect Her–Campus Women Win at UWI, Mona to show what training women to run can do for a community.

Parliament member Sharon Merle Hay-Webster spoke at the training to 60 UWI students. She was clear about the lessons she has learned in her role as a female political leader in Jamaica. She stressed that “you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.” She also shared specific items given to her as gifts from her missions throughout Africa. Those stories gave the college women a greater understanding of the breadth of the experiences you gain from participating in the public realm.

The students at the training heard from two current student government officials. In the 2010 elections, history was made with the election of the first woman Games Committee chair, Peta-Gay Plummer. At UWI, sport competitions are a large part of the campus culture. Plummer was told by fellow students that she wouldn’t win, but she not only won the election — she won by a landslide.

At the training, the participants practiced their elevator speeches on each other and vied to get as many “votes” as possible. The winner was Judy-Ann Z. Gordon! Campaigning for votes across campus and approaching groups of people made the women more confident in their ability to communicate and persuade.

When asked about what they learned at the training, one student shared that “success starts with self-love.” Another said that through Elect Her, the participants found many other students who care about the same issues they do.

Hear from the students themselves in this video:

This post was written by Director of Leadership Programs Kate Farrar