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Women in Art

by Charles Gladden BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Mar. 14,...

That woman stole that little boy’s crown

FeaturesThat woman stole that little boy’s crown

Lord Laro, the Caribbean songster, is famed in Belize for his song “Tell Guatemala to leave Belize alone,” and he is famed across the entire Caribbean for outing what women would do if we were ever foolish enough to vote them into government¯he said that it would be all he seh and she seh, that all they’d do in government is “discuss people bizniz”. For some that was a revelation. Some of us knew that Laro was swimming on the surface, that he was missing the sinister master plan. Those of us who ducked our heads under the surface are the ones who knew the more serious reason why we did what we did when we got the ballot from the returning officer.

There have been times when I’ve liked all the women who have squeezed through to the House and I have praised them for all the good attributes they have exhibited. It was that way when I relaxed my guard, until I remembered the dangerous role-reversing master plan.

I don’t have to whip out Bible quotes to show why women don’t belong in politics. If you’re one of those kinds of males who haven’t got the sense, you’ll get the sense in a minute. If we ever needed justification!

It is just so impossible what Miss Dolores wrote about a couple weeks ago in her column. After reading that, or reading what I have to say about it, the only way they will ever get your vote again is if you are one of those shameless disgrace-to-the-tribe guys who tell women everything they want to hear.

We live in a democratic country. We do not celebrate dictators. Ah, but if you’re a woman, and the dictator is a woman…there’s where Dolores (can I say, daring Dolores?) went. The hero here is a lady from a bygone age named Hatshepsut, and what she did should strike a warning to everyone who thinks that women’s lust for power is just because they want to, discuss pipl bizniz.

Hatshepsut is the wife of the king, and her husband dies and she is supposed to act as regent and then hand over to the king’s son (by another woman). Dolores gushes: “…she defied the tradition of male only power by remaining as queen/king and maximum leader long after the rightful heir came of age. Her attitude was ‘let them wait!’” Fair is fair. If a queen with a stolen crown is a hero because she “let them wait”, who can complain with the UDP for saying “mek dem wait”, which we did, almost six sakin tedious months beyond the rightful election date.

Here’s more, gloating: “…she took the title of King! She had herself portrayed as Pharoah, and she adopted all the emblems and titles associated with kingship…one inscription commissioned by her proclaimed ‘No one rebels against me in all lands. All foreign lands are my subjects.’” To that Dolores adds: “Talk about spunk.” I guess that’s spunk alright, to steal a crown!

She continues: “That was some use of power. So much good can be accomplished with the magnanimous and generous use of power.” To that I say, how come the ends justifies the means when it’s a woman who seizes power? Forget that this queen’s reign was wonderful for her people that as Dolores writes, “During her time great progress was made in social services for her subjects…” — she was not the legitimate ruler.

You might say, well, this was a different time, and the Egyptians weren’t into democracy, they were into monarchy. To that I say, yes, but they had rules, and the rule was that the crown did not belong to Hatshepsut.

Dolores said: “If she did great things for her people and brought prosperity to the mighty Egyptian empire of that time, more power to her. She had it and used it, no apologies.” Well, I have no apologies either. And neither should you have any apologies, when you go to the polls and have to choose between a man and a woman; choose your own kind.

You really should have got the sense by now, but if you haven’t, maybe this, what Ms. Dolores says to end her gender-incriminating piece, should get you sensible about where you put your mark. “Perhaps we need a Belizean Hatshepsut,” Dolores said. “The men have had their turn!!”

I’m not only sickened by this revelation, I’m terrorized. But I am not going to suffer too long about that because I know that the pain we feel today, on reading that, is the pain they will feel whenever any election is called again in Belize. Forewarned, forearmed! From village council to the House, we have the evidence to give us reason to stop their train.

No complaints with Muffet McGraw

I’m a fan of Notre Dame basketball star, Arike Ogundowale, ever since she hit two game winners to help ND to the women’s NCAA title last year (you know that women shoot the ball better than men do, and they shoot pressure shots better too – hn, I wonder why), and I’m a fan of her coach too, Muffet McGraw, even more so after I read this wedding story. Ahm, Muffet’s husband said she had on a beautiful dress when they got married. But when she reached to remove her garter, some kind of Western wedding tradition, it was revealed that she was wearing tennis shoes. No, I don’t have nohtn against spikes. I just think this Miss Muffet has got some real special stuff.

The following excerpt is taken from a Yahoo story about the dynamic Miss Muffet. It’s by a lady named Liz Roscher, and it’s titled, “Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw drops the mic on the lack of women leaders in sports”:

Muffet McGraw has been the women’s basketball coach at Notre Dame for over 30 years, and she recently said she has no plans to hire a male coach at any point in the future. She told Think Progress that, “Women need the opportunity. They deserve the opportunity.”

Despite McGraw’s explanation that women need chances to succeed in leadership positions in both men’s and women’s sports, her commitment to giving women those chances rubbed some people the wrong way. Some even called her decision to hire only women coaches for her women’s basketball program ”sexist” and “discriminatory,” even though nearly all coaching jobs in men’s programs go to men.

But McGraw wasn’t having it. At the Women’s Final Four news conference on Thursday, she gave an impassioned answer when a reporter asked her how seriously she takes being a voice for women in sports. McGraw’s answer wasn’t about her own voice, but about the vital need for more women to have a voice in sports.

McGraw spoke for over two minutes, and she delivered so many great points.

“Did you know that the Equal Rights Amendment was introduced in 1967 and still hasn’t passed? We need 38 states to agree that discrimination on the basis of sex is unconstitutional. We’ve had a record number of women running for office and winning, and still we have 23 percent of the House and 25 percent of the Senate.

“I’m getting tired of the novelty of the first female governor of this state, the first female African-American mayor of this city. When is it going to become the norm instead of the exception?

“How are these young women looking up and seeing someone that looks like them, preparing them for the future? We don’t have enough female role models, we don’t have enough visible women leaders and we don’t have enough women in power. Girls are socialized to know when they come out, gender roles are already set.

“Men run the world. Men have the power. Men make the decisions. It’s always the men that is the stronger one. And when these girls are coming up, who are they looking up to, to tell them that that’s not the way it has to be? And where better to do that than in sports? All these millions of girls who play sports across the country, they could come out every day, and we’re teaching them some great things about life skills. But wouldn’t it be great if we could teach them to watch how women lead? This is the path for you to take, to get to the point where, in this country, we have 50 percent of women in power. Right now, less than 5 percent of women are CEOs in Fortune 500 companies.

“So yes, when you look at men’s basketball and 99 percent of the jobs go to men, why shouldn’t 100 or 99 percent of the jobs in women’s basketball go to women? Maybe it’s because we only have 10 percent women athletic directors in Division I. People hire people who look like them, and that’s the problem.”

 You can read the rest of Ms. Roschner’s story on Yahoo Sports. Leadership is leadership, be it in religion, sports, politics, so I think I can segweh to this serious comment about women in politics in Belize to conclude my lee show for today. I support women in politics but I don’t know why some of them complain about not being accepted at the same low standards that some men have set. I don’t want any politician to come and tell me, the other side did it. Later.

P.S. The sensational Arike missed one of two free throws with a second left on the clock Sunday night, and her team lost the 2019 championship game by one point. I wouldn’t say she choked. She had exhibited extreme fatigue earlier (it was a grueling game). When you’re bone tired you have to be “luckier than good” to pull through.

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