Stella Says…Ladies, take the time to nurture your health

Kaieteur News – May 11, 2006

Next week is National Women’s Health Week in the US. I would have never known any such thing existed except that I went searching for news items that would highlight this important subject.

I was recently made very aware of just how different health care can be for women and men. Over the past four years I have suffered from severe pain attacks from a mysterious source. The first time it happened, in September of 2003, I was put through a full battery of tests to determine the cause.

After being put through the wringer (I really hate all those tests), the doctors could not find what was causing my pain and said it had to be something like kidney stones, though they found no reason to believe that was the cause either.

The pain attacks happened about the same time in 2004 and again in 2005, and then it started happening more frequently. Each time the doctors could not find what was causing the pain. I have a high pain tolerance, but this kind of pain was off the Richter scale and absolutely unbearable.  

Stella Says…I want to see a competition between Portia Simpson Miller and Keith Hernandez

Kaieteur News – April 30, 2006

Female leaders sure have been busy this week in the Caribbean. In Trinidad, Kamla Persad-Bissessar was appointed as the new leader of the opposition party, United National Congress (UNC) after the former Prime Minister, Basdeo Panday, was imprisoned for not being as forthcoming as possible to T & T’s Integrity Commission.

Also in Trinidad this week, Jamaica’s new female Prime Minister, Portia Simpson Miller, made her first official visit since assuming her new position last month. She and Trinidadian Prime Minister, Patrick Manning, reached an agreement that Trinidad will supply Jamaica with a long-term supply of natural gas.

Meanwhile, back in the states, a former baseball player for my favourite team, the Cardinals, let his mouth move faster than his brain. Keith Hernandez, who is now a sport commentator for the New York Mets, was seriously upset when he saw a woman in the San Diego Padre’s dugout last Sunday.

He said, “Who is the girl in the dugout, with the long hair? What’s going on here? You have got to be kidding me. Only player personnel in the dugout.” Little did caveman commentator Keith know that “the girl with long hair” was the Padres’ massage therapist and a legitimate part of the team’s training staff.  

Stella Says…As if rape and abuse are not enough, women cannot even trust their nurses

Kaieteur News – April 18, 2006

As I read the Kaieteur News article from Sunday entitled, “Maternity ward patients’ horror stories,” my feelings progressed from grief to anger to absolute outrage at how women were treated by the very medical professionals they trusted to safely help bring their babies into this world.

To say that I am appalled by this disgusting lack of professionalism is putting it very mildly. My mother-in-law’s mother died in a similar way over 60 years ago. She had delivered her baby, but fell out of the bed and bled to death before anyone even knew what had happened.

My mother-in-law and her younger brothers were then raised by their father and other family members, but what they needed was their mother. However, that was decades ago and one would assume that no such tragedies would be taking place today. Or at least very, very, very seldom.  

Stella Says…America has a double standard on Women’s Issues

Kaieteur News – April 13, 2006

Last week I received an email from Sean Adams, a frequent letter writer, who pointed out that although several countries around the world are voting women into high (if not the highest) governmental positions, America has yet to vote a woman into the office of President.

Mr. Adams feels this is a double standard by the United States – and quite frankly, I agree. The U.S. loves to talk about women’s issues and encourage other countries to protect women from the many atrocities the gender has suffered (and is still suffering). However, when it comes to electing a woman to lead the country, America is – to some degree – still in the Dark Ages.

While there has been significant progress made for women in the last few decades and a healthy majority of the population view women as intelligent and capable, there is still a sizable group of Americans who believe a woman should be barefoot and pregnant. Translation: Keep the ignorant woman out of the man’s way while he makes all of the important decisions.  

Stella Says…International women leaders are setting higher standards

Kaieteur News – April 06, 2006

The world cannot help but take notice of the scores of women leaders who have recently come to the forefront of the international community. It is true that the gender of these leaders alone is news since women have been relegated solely to the position “housewife” for thousands of years – whether she wanted this position or not.

However, it is not only the fact that women are stepping out as world leaders that is catching the world’s interest. It is the finesse and quality of their leadership abilities that is wowing those who serve with these them and the constituency of their respective countries.

Last week in Israel, the nation’s newest centrist party, Kadima (which means forward), won the elections after putting the very popular female Foreign Minister, Tzipi Liyni, out in front of the public in the campaign ads for the party. Kadima took 32 of 120 seats, with the next closest party only taking 22 seats. Maybe this is the year for new parties with feminine leadership and new visions?  

Stella Says…Ladies, tell those abusive men, “Hell, No!”

Kaieteur News – March 26, 2006

Ten days ago this newspaper published a sobering editorial focusing on the need for the nation to start taking a strong stance against violence against women. This is how the editorial began, “It is an unendurable shame that the scourge of violence against women continues to plague Guyana year after year, with no end in sight and with no sustained public outcry against it, especially from women.”

We are nearing the end of the month many celebrate as Women’s History Month. As such I want to highlight a piece of musical art that was only recently released. “The Color Purple” is a movie from the 80’s that captured a period of time in African American history circa 1949. This movie has been made into a Broadway musical and a soundtrack of the musical is now available.

I picked it up a couple weeks ago after watching a stirring performance on television of a particular song. The song is entitled, “Hell, No!” – and for good reason. Let me share that song with you. Here is the setting; Sofia confronts her friend Celie for telling Harpo (Sofia’s husband) that he needed to beat his wife if he wanted her to “mind” him.