By Elise Kelly, (In a speech on Thursday, May 8, to the Women of Worth 2014.)
Most women don’t measure up to the virtuous woman describe in the Proverbs. However Proverbs speak of strength, it speaks of efficiency, ability, strength of character. And for those of us who harbour thoughts of insecurity and doubt ourselves as women, take heart in the fact that the Proverb 31 woman isn’t about being perfect, it’s about living a life with purpose. And the best of us, the simple of us and humblest of us from whatever walk of life can actually reach that goal. With that said, we can all now as women breathe a sigh of relief. To live our lives with purpose from wherever we are and doing whatever it is that we do, is something attainable and therefore, this evening, our honorees, one of the things in their favour is the wide range from which they come. One is head of police (for St Ann)… and you know, I have to say this. Because a lot of people would think
“Hmm, head of the police, Lord have mercy what she going to look like”… so it just shows that we bring beauty to whatever it is that we are doing. The farmer, who in here could you identify the farmer (just by looking)? Community activist business women, lecturer and the nurse…I spoke with Donna McKoy and she was telling me about an experience in the senior citizen’s line…it also tells us that these are not just women of worth but really and truly like the virtuous woman, beautiful women inside that shine outside. Not yet gone, but going, are the days when we were giving a niche to make ourselves comfortable and or condescendingly given a cracked window of opportunity through which to serve. We are now confidently not just filling roles but excelling in previously male-dominated areas. In many instances, I’m sure our gentleman will agree, we have surpassed our male counterparts. I particularly want to hail our sisters who do so with dignity and humility it makes our survival amongst the brothers a lot easier. SSP Yvonne Martin-Daley, Judith Scott, Nurse Marjorie Robinson, Audrey Lecky, Valerie Martin-Wellington, Dr Gilzine Rose Fearon, Lorna-Lee Nation and Donna McKoy. Let us continue to wow the world with our intuition, with our emotional strength, with our integrity, with our militancy and fair play. That is a phrase that came out today “fair play”. Women, we have that to offer because we are in our homes, we split justice amongst our children. We bring fair play to the table; we bring humor to the table and, above all, let us do it with a joyful spirit of service. Finally a quotation from C Joybell C and it said “the strength of a woman is not measured by the impact that all her hardship in life has had on her, but the strength of a woman is measured by the extent of her refusal to allow those hardship to dictate to her and who she becomes. Congrats ladies.
