March is Cayman’s Honouring Women Month and this year the theme is Women Making History in recognition of women who have broken gender barriers and shattered glass ceilings.

The women who have inspired by example and given other women the motivation to make their own choices and shape their own destiny are the type of women being honoured this year.

This is the twelfth year of Honouring Women Month, which is organised by the Department of Counselling Services’ Family Resource Centre, Programme Officer Miriam Foster said.

“The theme will allow our community to reflect on past milestones and encourage us to achieve future ones,” she said. “We recognize that these women did not limit themselves because things had never been done before. Instead they sought a different path and left their mark on the world.”

Honouring Women Month also celebrated the UN’s International Women’s Day on 8 March. The UN International Women’s Day dates back to the beginning of women’s suffrage in the early 1900s, but also reflects the centuries-old struggle to participate in society on an equal footing with men.

As part of its central organizing principles, the UN includes the statement that no lasting solution to society’s social, economic, and political problems can be found without the full participation and empowerment of the world’s women.

The International Women’s Day ceremony was hosted by Minister for Community and Housing Affairs Mike Adam and the Family Resource Centre in front of the Government Administration Building. The IWD address was expected to be delivered by Acting Premier and Minister for District Administration, Works and Gender Affairs Juliana O’Connor-Connolly,

Prominent Caymanian sportswoman, Merta Day, now the sports coordinator for women at the Department of Sports, will be guest speaker for the ceremony. Also honoured will be the Cayman Islands under-17 girls’ football team. The women history-makers timeline will also be unveiled on the day and the winners of the poetry and photo contest announced.

Cayman’s Honouring Women Month celebration will also include a church service; a poetry and photo contest; the sunrise/sunset 5K walk/run; the honouring of women through the arts; the yoga Guinness World Record events; as well as other sporting and business-focused activities. 

 For more information or to become involved with Honouring Women Month activities, visit www.wrc.gov.ky, telephone 949-0006 or email miriam.foster@gov.ky.