KINGSTON, Jamaica – Chairman of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ), Dorothy Pine-McLarty, has urged Commonwealth Caribbean member-states to make political campaign financing for women a priority.

The chairman was making a presentation via Skype at the Commonwealth Women’s Political Participation and Leadership in the Commonwealth Caribbean workshop held in Barbados last Friday.

The chairman emphasised the importance of equal opportunity for women to become actively involved in political leadership and governance.

“It should not be that in relation to tertiary education, women are excelling everywhere across the region, yet the door remains half open when it comes to politics,” she said, adding that women in the region are also excelling as business leaders.

Pine-McLarty stated that campaign financing is expected to level the playing field financially for women who wish to run for political office.

“Far reaching recommendations by the ECJ in Jamaica to streamline campaign financing should, we believe, begin to remove the hurdles women face in relation to access to financial resources to run for political office…We have been working on this for over eleven years.  Therefore, countries should embark on the necessary deliberations without delay,” she said.

Pine-McLarty was invited to make a presentation on Gender Inclusiveness: The Role and Reach of Election Management Bodies in the Commonwealth Caribbean.

In this regard, she cautioned that qualification and eligibility should be placed ahead of gender in order not to sacrifice quality of representation for gender, whether male or female.

She reminded the meeting that election management bodies must not lose sight of their responsibility as guardians of the democratic process, even in promoting gender parity for women.

She was in the virtual company of esteemed speakers such as the Dr Denzil Douglas, Former Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis and Senator Kerry-Ann Ifill, President of the Senate in the Barbados House of Assembly.

The workshop was designed to, among other things, chart a possible way forward for mobilising political will and building the capacity of political parties, election management bodies and other relevant stakeholders to enhance women’s political participation and leadership.