Picture a society where the woman’s role was limited to the most mundane activities.

Singer Gem Myers grew up in a time when her mother and contemporaries were treated as second-class citizens. She has seen that change considerably since the 1970s, when a number of government initiatives empowered Jamaican women. Today, they call the shots in major sectors, from corporate to politics.

“Women over the last 60 years have evolved from being mainly housewives, nurses, and teachers to become leaders in all aspects of life. The universities now have 70 per cent women graduating as against 30 per cent men, which further ensures more leadership roles by women in Jamaica,” Myers told the Jamaica Observer.

In entertainment, however, women are still in the minority and reggae/dancehall is still largely a male-dominated field.”

The veteran artiste is the headline act for ‘GEM With A Little Help From My Friends’, a show scheduled for the Jamaica Pegasus on Mother’s Day. It also features Ken Boothe, Leroy Sibbles, Josey Wales, Bagga Case and the Fabulous Five Band.

Myers said the artistes, who represent different eras of Jamaican music, will salute Jamaican mothers.

“We will be taking the audience through six decades of great Jamaican and world music from the 1960s. We will be presenting a great selection of songs to please all mothers – the young and not-so-young,” she promised.

Myers, whose mother Ethlyn died in 2015, is from Linstead, a market town in St Catherine that produced artistes such as Phyllis Dillon, one of the first women to make a mark in Jamaican popular music.

A recording artiste since the early 1980s, Myers is known for songs like her signature, ‘One Man Woman’. She has also released four albums.

–  Howard Campbell