“…but with more women being educated, I’m sure that the number of high-caliber and quality women to assume leadership in the near future is not going to be reduced.  I think the quality of women who enter into politics will increase very soon.” - Pauline Sukhai

iKNOW Politics: Let’s start by talking about your career in politics.  When did it start, what inspired you and what obstacles have you encountered as a woman?

My political career began when I was 11 years old.  I was inspired by the grave injustice faced at that time in my country by the opposition party, which is the party I belong to. Once while I was traveling, I saw a member of the People’s Progressive Party [PPP] being harassed and brutalized by the State Apparatus – the police – and I vowed to myself at a very early age that I would work to do something to correct that. When I was about twelve years old, I joined the Progressive Youth Organization and later the Women’s Progressive Organization [WPO], which is a widespread women’s organization in my country.  At that point, there was no turning back. Later on, I started participating in the People’s Progressive Party.

Since then, I have held many different positions. Having started out as an ordinary member at the group at community level, I’ve progressed to become a member of the Central Committee.  Today I’m also a member of my party’s Executive Committee. I have held various positions in government – I was Parliamentary Secretary for three years in Indigenous Affairs, I was also Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Tourism and today I am the Minister of Amerindian Affairs [since 2008]. I’ve been a Parliamentarian for 18 years now – December 2010 marks 18 years since I first became a Member of Parliament. So it has been a very interesting and challenging career.  Personally, the difficulties that come with the territory didn’t affect me that much, but I understand the wider implication of women’s involvement in politics since they carry more responsibilities.  I think that women in politics here in Guyana have been able to overcome some of that due to their determination and commitment.

I wouldn’t say I’ve had obstacles.  I think it has been challenging as a woman who comes from a very small village in the rural community and who has no secondary education, much less a university education. I’ve had to work even harder, both in the political and academic realm. I’ve also had to balance that and family.  I married at a very young age – 21 years – and had two children. But at the political level, I didn’t think there were many obstacles in my party since we’ve always pursued a more equitable representation of women in the party’s policies and decision-making – before as the opposition and even now as we are in the driver’s seat.  Our leaders and the rest of us at the top have always pushed to ensure that women were included in the party’s upper echelons and even in the government.  And the results are tangible because we have achieved more than 33 percent women in Parliament. At the cabinet level I think we are at about 34 percent.  Even the party list has to be one-third women, which was the quota that the former president, Dr. Cheddi Jagan [1992-1997] – who passed away – ensured be kept.

iKNOW Politics:  You’re a party woman – a woman who has developed a career within the party. How open are the party systems in Guyana for women and women candidates?

I can speak for the People’s Progressive Party, which has always been open and welcoming to women. In fact, we have one of the largest women’s political organizations in the country, which is allied with my party.  That alone speaks volumes on women’s admission to the party because as long as you are in the women’s organization or the political organization (the WPO), you automatically move straight into the party ranks. And since we hold elections for the positions in the Party Central Committee, the process is followed from the group level. However, cultural sentiment in Guyana still strongly opposes women being engaged at the highest level. Family ties can even impede that, which is rooted in culture and tradition.

iKNOW Politics: What are three goals that you plan to implement in your ministry in order to advance indigenous women’s involvement in politics?  What strategies will you use to achieve these goals?

At the political level, my role is more related to broad-based development and with development comes politics. But the mechanisms and strategies we use to implement programs in my ministry include women because we are more open.  We cannot drive the political aspect from the ministry – that’s the party’s job. But in the national programs that we carry out, such as the community development plans and the livelihood program, women are encouraged to participate at the village level. This involvement is sowed not so much by our design, but also due to the villages’ economic situation.  Women are sometimes more permanent figures in the villages while their male counterparts go seek employment in other sectors.  In a very rural or remote community, women are sometimes the ones who stay behind. So if you are talking about the livelihood program or community development plans, they’re the main drivers, formulators and designers.

iKNOW Politics: Alliances and networking are very important in politics. iKNOW Politics is also a network of networks. What role has alliances and networks played in your political career?

They have played a very important role. We have a very unique situation in my party. For example, in 1992 even though we had determined we’d win the majority vote in elections by running alone, we created an alliance with the Civic.  Therefore our party is now the People’s Progressive Party-Civic since we have a civic partnership in our political framework that works along with us, the politicians. And they have competed with us, alongside us, in partnership with us in elections. Next year there will be elections here [August 2011] and the debate on whether to broaden the partnership to include civil society and religious organizations is already an ongoing topic.

iKNOW Politics: What is the role of young women in politics in Guyana? Are there any movements currently under way that call for the renewal of leadership in the country?

It’s not as desirable.  I have been examining this factor for a while now and I’ve seen that many of the women today who have better opportunities and greater access to secondary and university education are spending much more time in the academic arena. During my generation, women spent a lot of time in the political arena because some of us did not have the opportunity to spend that much time in academics nor could we have afforded to spend it on educating ourselves. So our main activity revolved around politics, even at the ground or the grass roots level working in the communities. So I think it’s taking a while but with more women being educated, I’m sure that the number of high-caliber and quality women to assume leadership in the near future is not going to be reduced.  I think the quality of women who enter into politics will increase very soon.

iKNOW Politics: What kind of suggestions would you like to give young women in politics or young women who are interested in politics but who believe it is a very hard scenario to be in?

Well, one of the first things I would say to young women is that life is short.  Whatever career path you want to pursue will be hard and if it’s politics, it will be a very interesting and challenging field. As a woman, politics only requires you to be determined and for you to want to challenge existing norms and practices for the development of your people. When that seeps into your system, I think it becomes the driving force for any woman who is involved in politics, particularly young people.  They understand that their contribution toward building their country and ensuring democracy for their people requires their input and that it should not be viewed as a profession that is “hard.” Any profession is hard. It is what you make it.