by Colin Hyde
Now that the election is over, I can put in my say here to Ms. Thea, and to Ms. Kim too. Thea stopped for a chat with friends at Channel 5’s OYE while she was on the campaign trail, and the illustrious Kim Vasquez, who heads NICH, liked something she said so much that she posted it on social media. Kim said that Thea told OYE: “Women have to work twice as hard to be considered just as good. You reach a point where you realize this is a hard fact.”
I’m not sure what percentage of that statement is hyperbole, but if she had said that sisters have to work harder, I still would say, I noh sure you deh pahn track. I think it is accepted that there are jobs that call for gender fits. A male is less likely to be hired as a babysitter; a female is less likely to be hired to fall bush for a milpa.
There are many professions in Belize where a woman doesn’t have to work harder than a man to get a place. Who dominates the teaching profession, at all levels in Belize? What percentage of employees in the public service are females? Do males dominate the lawyer profession? I have read that the higher up you go in the education system, the greater the ratio of females to males. All over I see women in management positions.
Our former auditor general was female, and the present one is female. A brother said he had greater credentials than the sister who got the job, but he got passed over. I don’t know the details of that story, but I know that jobs that involve managing people call for a lot more than grades. There is a suggestion that the system’s structure dictated that the brother got the job.
Some women keep saying electoral politics is harder for them. It’s a truth that it is harder for women in politics because they are measured differently from men on the matter of their personal lives, something men can’t be blamed for, something men couldn’t change if they tried. I say, again, that’s a matter of biology, a matter of God’s design.
It may be that women work harder than men. I read somewhere that some of the work women do is not properly appreciated. The focus here is the charge that women have to work harder to climb the ladder. Well, getting to the core, I think Ms. Kim is an awesome writing talent. I don’t know how much she is worth as a manager. Me noh noa. I tell everyone I meet that I think Ms. Thea has the “it” leadership factor. It is to be seen what her positions on issues are, now that she has the title.
Absolutely, there are areas where it’s a woman’s thing, things we wouldn’t understand. In certain areas, I believe a sincere discussion would clear up things. You know there’s a conversation that Belize needs to have. I put in my two cents.
Belize City noh tu like doctors ataal
One of the big lessons sealed in the election last week is that, if yu have a PhD or MD, book-earned or honorary, don’t put your lee self in an election in Belize City. Corozal has had its Dr. Greg, San Ignacio its Dr. Figueroa, Dangriga its Dr. Ted, Stann Creek West its Dr. Canton, Corozal South West its Dr. Campos, and PG has its Dr. Osmond. Good for the districts, but noh bring dehn big degree to Belize City. It doesn’t matter which party yu belong tu, dehn people don’t like tu much paper smaatnis.
Dr. Carla Barnett, da who she? Dr. Francis Smith, da who hihn? Dr. George Gough? Dr. Uc Espat? Dr. Lewis? Dr. Candice? Dear Dr. Colville, I’m not sure if Belize City give him di sense before or after he got the big title. Dr. Taegar, de facto leader of the PUP Dynamic 9, pushed his big ideas for City Council in 1977, and guess what happened to him and his team. Eudora Pitts and Jacqueline DeShield tayr them out. Dr. Hoy? You want to know about Dr. Hoy? Santi bombed him! They all get sent packing.
My, Dr. Nelma and Dr. Lorna were studying big things, but they didn’t do their basic history lessons. Some things you have to live with, like how dehn seh gud girls like bad fellows. Belize City love up di sweet mouth laaya dehn. Dehn da noh gud people, but dehn da di kind weh Belize City people like. Dehn noh like dakta.
Poor Lorna, poor Nelma, they went to big school and did all their studies to lead their people to a better life. It must be a bad feeling to give all your love, and the people whom you love don’t love you back. Shyne’s big mistake was to flaunt the honorary before the election. When he was “just” Shyne, he won. Ah, when he got the honorary from the African/American university in Liberia, that vain so-and-so couldn’t go anywhere without exhibiting the big, fat title. The last time I checked the polling, he was running dead last. Anybody want to know weh happen tu Faber? Damned fool, he was aspiring to be— doc-tor!
Oh, Belize City does have a Doctor Esquivel and a Doctor Dean Barrow, but their “doctor” thing was never near any ballot. Long years after they had ruined the country, we learned they had those titles. Dakta? Belize City wahn put dehn r**# eena dehn place.
Kriols not much into race vote
I was surprised by Jules Vasquez’s call that the Kriols in Mesopotamia would hesitate to vote for Lee Mark because of his ethnicity. Vasquez is a senior pundit, and if you are within earshot of his beefing, there’s a lot of local innards you’ll hear that will make you say, “What? Really? Oh, da soh?” Satta yuself. Don’t be running sweat about my correction, because that brother, big people drool to be in his circle. Me, I’m only doing what I have to do.
Vasquez said that David Castillo didn’t stand a chance against Hugo Patt because the PUP used the division to prop up other areas, like Corozal Bay for Thea. I am aware of this looseness in the registration of voters by the EBD, and there are stories that it is rampant. From the start, our situation was ripe with opportunities for types who invent invisible ink and raise the deceased just to dip dehn finger in ink for the paati, because from the old days Belizeans moved around a lot. There’s so much serious research that could be done about the activities of the wily blue and red beasts, the scoundrels who run our show.
Ah, Vasquez’s call about the Kriols in Mesopotamia not being likely to vote for Lee Mark because his root tribe is from China, that’s tripe. I suspect he got carried away by the noise in the marketplace. There are a few noisy Kriols, and when Kriols noisy, dehn naizi bad. Look, throughout our history you see where the Kriols noh vote race. I will say it again: Kriol da di glue to Belize. Every other tribe in Belize has something bad to say about us, and some of the charges are harsh, but Chico Ramos know from first hand that we wahn marid to ahn. That da how come I have cousins weh name Wong K.
From the outside, I thought the race was between Shyne and Ellis, and the pundit Vasquez thought so too. Lee Mark entered the race way late; and while he wanted to win, his primary mission was to rescue the UDP from the grip of the Bel Ams candidate. But let me not get distracted. Noh study the noise; study history. Kriols don’t vote race.