We expect and hope that all real men, and women, of course, will greet this headline with the requisite outrage that it deserves, but will be relieved to hear that we jest, and the full statement is: “A woman’s place is in the House and the Senate.”

Indeed, Jamaica is making good progress in the number of women in governance through the representational political process. Up to February 2021, 28.6 per cent of seats in Parliament, that is House and Senate, were held by women.

On this International Women’s Day (IWD) we wish to salute our Jamaican women, without whom this little country would most certainly be nothing but a small piece of rock on which no one would wish to live, work, or raise families.

There are still, obviously, many problems affecting Jamaican women, that we can speak endlessly about, notably gender-based violence which is a scourge on our country.

UN figures said that, in 2017, Jamaica was number two on the list of countries with the highest murder rate of women — 11 per 100,000. We would not be surprised if the situation is worse today.

Still, we wish not to dwell on our own problems, but to urge our nation to spare a thought and a prayer for the women who are bearing the brunt of the war unleashed on Ukraine by Russia.

Interestingly, one of the two main events which led to the observation of International Women’s Day was the 1917 strike for “bread and peace” by women in Russia. The first was the 1908 garment workers’ strike in New York in which women protested against working conditions.

If Russian women never needed to protest for peace before, they need to now, as they watch their men sent off to kill and maim their neighbours and be killed and maimed in Ukraine. Russian women, too, will feel the devastating effects of the war, as seems to be the lot of women generally.

It has been well documented that armed conflict often disproportionately has negative health effects for women and girls, due to an increased risk of injury, death, and physical and mental illness at a time when public health services are destroyed or impossible to access.

The responsibility of providing for the family falls on women who are more affected by the indirect effects of economic change, displacement, and sexual violence. According to the UN, globally 81,000 women and girls were killed in 2020. The numbers are expected to rise during times of war.

In 1994, Rwanda was ravaged by genocide and nearly a million people were estimated to have been killed in just over 100 days. The Rwandan genocide is infamous, however, for its effect on women due to genocidal rape of an estimated 500,000 women and girls.

Last Sunday, Jamaicans were urged by Gender Affairs Minister Ms Olivia “Babsy” Grange to help break barriers that hinder women’s empowerment and equality, in her IWD message, delivered during a service at Boulevard Baptist Church in St Andrew.

“If you find that you are holding any bias, if you find that you are holding on to old, outdated ideas about a woman’s place in the world, I urge you to make a change. Start by changing your mind first and then adjust your behaviour accordingly,” she pleaded.

We wholeheartedly endorse this call and wish all women a happy International Women’s Day.