Justice for the forgotten

In 2012, Jamaica will be holding a variety of events to mark the 50th anniversary of its liberation from British colonial rule.

The black, green and gold flag and the prayerful lyrics of the national anthem are most symbolic of the country's political independence. As responsible citizens, most Jamaicans remain silent and attentive while they sing lustily the lyrics of Eternal Father Bless Our Land.

Many others salute the flag as part of their ceremonial duty, even if there are those among us who dream of the Union Jack from time to time.

It was a real shock for me to learn that one of the authors of the national anthem has been deliberately forgotten and her contribution to our national life never acknowledged.

Of course, the fact that Lindo is a woman makes her story not only disgraceful but a testimony to the scant regard paid to women's contributions in patriarchal societies such as Jamaica.

Research has shown that, historically, and in contemporary times, women's voices remain unheard and their contributions in many areas of national life are deliberately overlooked and forgotten. Their life stories are regularly distorted in a patriarchal framework in which both men and women are socialised to accept the mythology of women's inferiority, passivity and the resulting marginalised status of a wide cross section of the female population.

Of course, over time, feminist historians, psychologists, sociologists, theologians and other representatives of the established disciplines in the academy have been pushing against the backlash tide to regain the truth about the significant contributions that women have made and continue to make to human development globally.

Within this model, a perusal of the forgotten stories of women in Western societies will demonstrate that, in particular, the history of black and aboriginal women is usually lost in the historical records of the Americas.

Documenting achievements

Fortunately, the women studies departments in some of the most prestigious academies in Canada, the USA and Britain have assisted current scholars to appreciate the denial of women's rights and the burial of women's significant contribution to nation-building.

For instance, the myth of the 'founding fathers' permeates the history of the so-called civilised societies. The majority of us are led to believe that white men in shiny armour, mounted on stallions, conquered the western plains of North America and succeeded in pillaging and stealing the lands of the First Nations. In this cowboy-and-Indians mythology, neither white women nor aboriginal women were recorded as anything else but "wet nurses" and "wild, sexy squaws".

Thankfully, there are now well-researched and fully documented stories of aboriginal women who fought for their honour, their land and their people.

Rosemary and Joseph Agonito, in a 1981 edition of Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, documented the involvement of a Cheyenne woman, Buffalo Calf Road, who, in her mid-20s joined the men of her nations and fought in the 1876 battle on the Rosebud River. This battle was in response to General George Crooks' invasion of the Northern Cheyenne homeland.

Buffalo Calf Road, according to her biographers, distinguished herself and saved her brother, Comes-In-Sight, who was pinned down by enemy fire.

The well-recorded dynamism and activism of the second wave of North America feminism and the leadership of the United Nations have propelled women in every nation to develop a consciousness of the exclusion of women's perspectives from popular debates, especially at the highest levels of decision-making.

I am of the opinion that the Jamaican self-proclaimed feminists and activists for women's rights should recognise the injustice that has been perpetuated against Christine Allison Lindo, and they should speak out on this deliberate obliteration of this woman's contribution to the writing of the national anthem.

Whether by design or accident, the nation state should take responsibility for this long-established pattern of discrimination against this Jamaican woman. When the Jamaican State ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), it committed itself to several actions that should have resulted in the equality of rights for every woman, irrespective of her status in life.

In particular, Jamaica accepted the definition of discrimination outlined in Article 1 of the convention. For purposes of this convention, the term "discrimination against women" shall mean any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their material status, on a basis of equality of men and women of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic social, cultural, civil or any other field.

Janice Budd's outline of the history of the non-recognition of Lindo's contribution to our national life, and our pride on our independence from the shackles of colonialism is a clear case of discrimination against a Jamaican woman. It has been noted that powerful state actors, including prime ministers, have been alerted to this case over a long period.

It has also been established that the well-respected and credible logistics and protocol consultant, Merrick Needham, asserts that the anthem is the creative work of four persons - the Honourable Robert Lightbourne, the Honourable Hugh Sherlock and the late Mapletoft Poule and his then wife, who is now Christine Allison Lindo.

Mrs Lindo has outlived the other contributors. She is the forgotten woman.

Had the Government of Jamaica kept its promise to accede to the Optional Protocol to CEDAW, there would have been a legal and clear path to seek justice for Mrs Lindo.

The local activists and human-rights advocates could be encouraged to present Mrs Lindo's case to the CEDAW Committee in Geneva. Unfortunately, for every Jamaican woman we still have to depend on the local legal remedies to seek some semblance of the achievement of our human rights.

Until the Optional Protocol is acceded to, individual women and groups of women, especially the poor and marginalised, must continue to depend on the testosterone levels of the patriarch and his straw bosses of both genders. For Christine Lindo, a local formula for granting her recognition and her inherent human rights to claim her intellectual property must be found before 2012.

Those women who describe themselves as leaders in the struggle for women's rights need to speak up for this Jamaican woman. They need to recognise that women's rights are human rights, and everyone deserves to have those rights without limitations of caste, class, age, or race.

If the women ignore this case, they might as well accept the fact that they are mere flag wavers and good-time girls for the patriarch and his conga drummers.

Glenda Simms, PhD, is a gender expert and consultant. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.