THE House of Representatives is scheduled to host a Young Women in Leadership (YWiL) parliamentary sitting today in partnership with ParlAmericas and the Caribbean Women in Leadership (CWiL), which will see young women, ages 18-25 debating issues related to gender equality and women’s economic empowerment.

The session is a run-up to International Women’s Day activities, and dovetails with the push by female parliamentarians to form an all-woman bicameral caucus of women parliamentarians — as a sessional committee of Parliament — making for deeper collaboration among women on both sides of the political divide, while fulfilling obligations under the UN convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women.

“There have been matters in both chambers that could have benefited from a more unified stance among women, historically speaking. Parliaments are well-placed to champion the goals of gender equality. This motion to create a women’s parliamentary caucus is intended to create that positive space that will encourage and enhance this kind of engagement and effort,” Leader of Government Business in the Senate Kamina Johnson Smith said as she moved the motion in the Upper House on January 27.

Parliament is also partnering with ParlAmericas — an independent network of legislatures of 35 countries from North, Central, and South America, and the Caribbean — on the establishment of the sessional committee. “I would like to think that this current Parliament is a source of inspiration to our young women who can look across our Parliament and see women of various ages, backgrounds and professions, and different political persuasions and perspectives, who are similarly and jointly dedicated to building a better Jamaica,” Johnson Smith told the Senate.

Announcing the special young women’s sitting on December 13, Gender Affairs Minister Olivia Grange advised that she had asked each Member of Parliament to nominate a young woman, between the ages of 18 and 25, to serve as a Young Women in Leadership (YWiL) parliamentarian.

She noted that the YWiL sitting will culminate with the YWiL initiative, an initiative that is aimed at cultivating young women’s interest in public leadership, and equipping them with the knowledge, skills and networks as leaders.