Hilary Nicholson moves on

Nadine Wilson

Monday, February 20, 2012

SHE has been the face behind Women's Media Watch (WMW) for over a decade, but Hilary Nicholson, who is well known for her advocacy on gender issues, has recently relinquished her post as an active member of the group's secretariat.

Nicholson, who helped to establish WMW over 25 years ago, has been its programme and training co-ordinator since 1998. Last Saturday, a number of her colleagues and friends of the agency turned up at a surprise retirement party held in her honour to share the impact she has made on them over the years.

Nicholson does not see this change as retirement though, especially since, as she puts it, she will still be volunteering with the group. In fact she took strong objection to the term in her usual perky voice that has never failed to make her audience pay attention during her training sessions.

"Can we not use that word retiring?" she asked before offering up a chuckle. "Retirement sounds like I'm going home to look on my pension cheque and tend to my garden," she told All Woman just minutes after wrapping up a lecture at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus.

As a volunteer, Nicholson will no longer be responsible for the day-to-day co-ordination of the agency's training programmes, although she will be helping to deliver some of the training materials.

"I have always been an active volunteer. A lot of the stuff that I have done over the years, I have done them as volunteer member, not just because I happened to be on staff," she said

She said she has enjoyed her time being on staff, but believes now is an opportune time to make way for younger persons.

"I believe very strongly that we need to have some young people become the movers and shakers of Women's Media Watch which is an organisation that does some moving and shaking," she said.

One of those younger persons whose lives she has touched is the group's administrator Keishagay Jackson.

"For me, she is like a second mom who guided me and mentored me throughout my time here at Women's Media Watch. She was the first person who asked me to be a part of the training team even though I was an admin assistant," said Jackson, who has been with the group since 2005.

"She, to a large extent, assisted me in my development and gave me directions as it relates to schooling," she said.

Nicholson has helped to champion the cause of women and put the spotlight on gender relations in the media through her advocacy and training sessions. She is also known for her work with SISTREN Theatre Collective and Video for Change, which has featured some of Jamaica's stalwarts over the years.