from a friend...
//////////////////////////
The Nothern Fisherman's Cooperative held its
annual general meeting on Caye Caulker yesterday. No
doubt, this very successful cooperative went over
the list of their accomplishments this year, which are
sure to be many. This is a very successful
cooperative by any accounts. The fishing cooperative
was the first of its kind, is still the oldest of its
kind, the largest of its kind and the most successful
of its kind in the entire country. One would be blind
not to notice the economic prosperity the formation of
this cooperative has brough to the tiny island of Caye
Caulker, Belize. Today, there are several branches of
the Northern Fisherman's Cooperative in several parts
of the country.
The founding members of this wildly successfully
cooperative, which was formed in the 1950's on Caye
Caulker, had several strong Caye Caulker women at the
helm as founding members. I cannot remember all the
names right off hand, but in a conversation with the
man who helped form the cooperative so long ago, Mr.
Tony Vega, Sr., he welcomed the women members even in
the 1950's (in an era when the woman's place was still
considered "in the home") because he was of the
opinion that they would work twice as hard as the men
to make the cooperative successful for the simple fact
that they had children to feed.
Today, however, despite its huge success, the Northern
Fisherman's Cooperative is one of the two most gender
discriminatory organizations in the entire country of
Belize (the other being the Catholic Church). Despite
its overwhelming financial successes, this cooperative
should really hang its head in shame at its policies
towards women. Despite its success, it is nothing more
than a woman-bashing, macho man, organization -
obviously one of the ancient dinosaurs that has rolled
over from the last century that still remains in last
century's mode. Considering the fact that the
founding members welcomed women members, one can only
wonder what has gone wrong along the way.
A female friend of mine whose application to become a
member of the cooperative some years ago was turned
down by the cooperative (without an explanation, I
might add), inquired privately as to reasons why.
From inside sources, these were the answers: "Well,
if we allow women members, we will have to change the
name to Northern Fishepeople's Cooperative" and it
will cost money." Then "We only allow male members,
because if we allowed all the women that wanted to
join to join, then with the loans they take out, they
will bankrupt the entire organization." Huh? I was
certainly not sure if we were talking to folks in the
last century or this century.
Since this government has appointed a special
ambassador for gender issues, I would hope that they
would act where they have so far given lip service and
do a thorough investigation into the very
discriminatory practices of the Norther Fisherman's
Cooperative. In fact, I challenge them to take
immediate steps to correct this type of old-fashioned
discrimination against half of our population whose
only sin is to be born with parts other than those of
a man.
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