Forever Indebted to Rex: Women Crafting a “New Story of Human Experience”

Abstract

Introduction: Nettleford on womenLOCATING WOMEN AT THE centre of analysis and action within the Extra Mural Department was high on Rex Nettleford's agenda. Within the context of complex social structures which hold dear traditional patriarchal values of male dominance, and in an institution constructed on elitist biases embedded in the offering of higher education, Nettleford's embrace of women was both significant and radical. It was significant because he opened the gateway through which many women, particularly poor, black women, entered the University of the West Indies (UWI) in an attempt to improve the quality of their lives. It was radical because such an action veered from the conventional direction being taken by the UWI and sanctioned by society which had long marginalised its women, both ideologically and socially. That doorway which opened in 1978 was the Women and Development Unit (WAND) which, among other things, was involved in the Project for the Development of Caribbean Women in Trade Unions, the most comprehensive and significant training programme ever undertaken for women trade unionists in the Caribbean.1One can understand Professor Nettleford's willingness to house WAND in the Extra Mural Department and to include and address issues of social inequality within the remit of the department, because he himself appreciated the socially adverse conditions under which the majority of the region's people have to exist. His expressions of solidarity and sympathy with the disadvantaged were clearly shown in his support of the development of Caribbean women in trade unions. Furthermore, on reflection, Nettleford said of the United Nations Decade of Women (1975-85):But the consciousness, programmes and actions initiated by the UN Decade for Women, suggest that the common understandings once held about the varied particulars of Caribbean social life and individual/ gender behaviours, are being dissembled by cadre of cross-generational women determined to write new story of human experience. It is story of personal achievement and significant contributions to Caribbean social development within the context of complex social structure which values traditional notions of male dominance and female subservience.2Therefore, the establishment of WAND in 1978, during the Decade for Women, was no accident. Neither was it the consequence of idle musing. It marked the beginning of the crafting of a new story of human experience within, but outside the walls of the institutional structures of the UWI. This essay, therefore, highlights the two main women's projects, mentioned above, which were implemented under Nettleford's stewardship: WAND and the Project for the Development of Caribbean Women in Trade Unions.Women and Development Unit (WAND)The establishment of WAND was deliberate recommendation of 1977 regional seminar held in Jamaica under the theme Integration of Women in the Development of the Its main focus was the status and condition of Caribbean women. seminar was an initiative of Sybil Francis, social worker and staff tutor at the Social Welfare Training Centre, Department of Extra-Mural Studies, and was jointly sponsored with the Jamaican Bureau of Women's Affairs. At time when women's issues were taking centre stage, WAND was accepted within the structure of the UWI and within the Department of Extra-Mural Studies because of the structure ofthat department with its network of centres throughout the anglophone Caribbean. More importantly, the focus of the Department of Extra-Mural Studies on adult education and its autonomy and flexibility within the academy made it the ideal place to locate unit whose work was to be decidedly outside the walls. Nettleford not only understood the effectiveness of extra-mural education, but also had keen interest in women accepting and playing central role in the Caribbean region. In his article The Caribbean Woman and the Labour Movement, he would later write:I come in the wake of the Beijing Olympics where the Caribbean out-performed itself with Jamaica placing third in the Planet's display of achievement largely in the field of track and field. …