 Mr. Speaker, I beg to move the following motion, standing in my name. Whereas the House of Assembly and Senate wish to establish a women's parliamentary caucus to include present and past women parliamentarians, and whereas the caucus shall herein be referred to as the women's parliamentary caucus of St. Lucia, and whereas the mission and objectives of the caucus as follows. To promote solidarity among women in general and among women parliamentarians in particular across party lines. To enhance the capacity of women parliamentarians as effective legislators and representatives. To lobby for support from non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations. To provide a forum for discussion on matters affecting women and other marginalized groups in the country, regionally and internationally across party lines. To empower and support aspiring women parliamentarians. To strengthen their leadership capabilities through mentorship, training and professional development opportunities. To advocate for continued official recognition and acknowledgement of persons who have served in parliament. To network with other organizations and institutions concerned with issues pertaining to women and women's participation in the political process. To promote and help sensitize all parliamentarians to the principles of gender equity and equality in the country, as well as regionally and internationally. To advocate for legislation and a national women's policy. And finally to monitor and evaluate the implementation of gender-based policies and impact on women's lives. May it resolve that parliament approves the establishment of the Women's Parliamentary Caucus, Erin referred to as Women's Parliamentary Caucus of St. Lucia. Mr Speaker, this motion to establish a Women's Parliamentary Caucus to include present and past women parliamentarians is a motion which is long overdue. And I'm happy that the day or the night has finally come Mr Speaker. And I feel honored and I feel privileged and even this morning, the member for Souffre patted me on the shoulder and said how proud she was that I was the one presenting this motion in this house. Mr Speaker, I understand the critical role that my grandmother, that my mother and the other women in my life, Mr Speaker. I understand the role that they played, I understand the sacrifices that they made to ensure that I am here today. And to this end, Mr Speaker, I want to wish as my colleague from Denry North would have done earlier, I would like to wish Dr. Virginia Albert Poyote, I would like to wish her well and a speedy recovery. And I don't know if to say I wish her a speedy recovery, given the fact that she has confirmed that she's recovering at a very rapid rate, Mr Speaker. But I know that my parliamentary colleague from Babu No, I know that she's listening and I know that she would be elated to present this motion today. But I want to assure her, Mr Speaker, that nothing is lost with this presenter. Mr Speaker, women are historically held back by social norms, where societal traditions teach that they are not equal to men. Oftentimes, a woman's desire or decision to be part of the workforce is influenced by how we, and when I say we, Mr Speaker, I refer to we as a society, how we view a role in the house, or more generally in the community. A critical threat of combatting this discrimination both inside and outside the workplace leaves us with a crisis, Mr Speaker, that could mean a suspension of our nation's economic growth. And if that happens, if the talents and the skills and the abilities are not utilized urgently. Mr Speaker, this month is recognized as International Women's Month. And on Friday, the 8th of March, I had the opportunity to address scores of young women. And they were gathered right outside this August chamber, Mr Speaker. And they were there to celebrate International Women's Day. And we celebrated under the theme, invest in women, accelerate progress. And this theme, Mr Speaker, it underscores recognition worldwide that to accelerate progress in gender equality, greater investment in women must be a priority. The only way that we can achieve the acceleration and the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women is by strengthening our institutions. And this motion, Mr Speaker, it aims to do just that. Mr Speaker, we are not very far from 2040. And one of the targets for 2040 is to try to achieve the sustainable development goal number five, which aims to achieve gender equality and empower all women and all girls. Gender equality, Mr Speaker, is a human right. It is also a precondition for realizing all goals in 2040. This government, under the astute stewardship of the member for Castries East, has always been, or has always provided a proponent for gender equality. And we have always made women a priority in our people's first political agenda. Mr Speaker, look at the composition of their powers. Just look at it. And out of the six members, who the government side has responsibility to appoint, five of them, Mr Speaker, are women. Now, if we were to do the mass, Mr Speaker, five out of six, somewhere about 83%, I don't know if this is gender balance or gender equality, but what it does, Mr Speaker, it speaks to a deliberate effort on the part of this government to ensure that we include women in everything we do, Mr Speaker. And over the years, there has been a lot of talk on our commitment to gender equality and women's empowerment. But if we are to truly progress, Mr Speaker, we must get past the talk and we must get down to action. And this motion this evening, Mr Speaker, highlights the efforts of this government to fix what needs to be fixed, to break down the institutional barriers that impedes progress and building new institutional mechanisms that create the enabling environment for true progress to take root. This government, Mr Speaker, since assuming office, have gone past the talk and we have actually worked the work, Mr Speaker. Our government has implemented legislative frameworks that seek to reduce the gender pay and empowerment gap through social protection programs, Mr Speaker, such as the youth economy. And which shows a significant percentage. If you were to look at the statistics, Mr Speaker, you will realize a significant percentage of female participants have benefited from a grant to boost their small business. And we also have the MSME Loan Grant Facility, which seeks to empower men and women. But, Mr Speaker, particularly, we've seen quite a few women become beneficiaries of the MSME Loan Grant Facility. And these and other social programs through the Ministry of Equity, Mr Speaker, they seek to strengthen the skills and offer them new and empowering opportunities in the workforce. Offer a snapshot of what must be done and what is being done to achieve gender equality in St. Lucia. Mr Speaker, of particular importance to note is that these women's parliamentary caucus will include present and past parliamentarians. Not labor women, Mr Speaker, or flabby women, but a cross-party approach will be adopted. And the women of this caucus will have the responsibility, as I said earlier, to promote solidarity among women in general and among women parliamentarians across party lines. This is very important, Mr Speaker, because notwithstanding our efforts to achieve the goal of gender equality, there is no running away from the fact that there is and has been an imbalance in relation to women, Mr Speaker, occupying top managerial positions. Mr Speaker, I can't remember the time when there was a 40% representation of women in this honourable house, Mr Speaker. And if I'm wrong, you can probably correct me. But I cannot remember the time, maybe I'm too young, where women occupied 40% or 50% of the seats in this honourable house. And we must make a deliberate effort on our end, Mr Speaker, to try to right this wrong. The women's parliamentary caucus will have the responsibility of correcting this disparity by enhancing the capacity of women parliamentarians as effective legislators. This group is also tasked with empowering and supporting aspiring women parliamentarians to strengthen their leadership capabilities through mentorship, through training and through professional development opportunities. There are matters affecting our women and other marginalized groups in this country, Mr Speaker. And one of the goals of this women parliamentary caucus is to provide a platform whereby these matters can be discussed, they can be ventilated, and they can be addressed. Cabinet and parliament has recognised that we are now at a place that if significant strides to close the gender gap are not taken, Mr Speaker, we suffer the risk of a stagnant economy. Equality cannot wait. Our women, Mr Speaker, they cannot wait. And this caucus, once established, will be able to lobby for support from non-governmental and intergovernmental organisations. They will also be able to network with other organisations and institutions concerned with issues pertaining to women and women's participation in the political process. And this caucus will also be able to advocate, Mr Speaker, for the continued official and acknowledgement of persons who have served in parliament. We know the difficulties, Mr Speaker, that women encounter. We know the discrimination that women have to face, especially when they decide to throw their art into the political rings. Mr Speaker, it's sad, but I guess it's the honest truth. Most of our women who served after the term or after the tenure, Mr Speaker, we forget them like a bad habit. And you have to ask, where is this one and where is that one, Mr Speaker? And we must do better. And now you've heard me speak, Mr Speaker, about a women's parliamentary caucus. And you ask, is that something novel? And as much as it may be something that may be novel to us, Mr Speaker, several of our neighbours in the region have already set up a well-established women parliamentary caucus. And if we don't board the ship, if we don't board it now, Mr Speaker, the possibility of it sailing away without us can become a reality. And we have to ensure that this does not happen. So this is why we are here today. Trinidad has a women's parliamentary caucus, Mr Speaker, which has made significant strides in bridging the gaps that exist and reducing the deficit which women parliamentarians encounter. Mr Speaker, I want to now say a big thank you to Senator, President of the Senate, Ms Alvina Reynolds and Sister Lisa Jawaii. I see Ms Mangal, Ms Plomer, Senator Jawaii and Ms Plomer and all the other women, Senator Shalry and all the other women, Mr Speaker, I saw earlier, I saw Ms Nelson present. All of these women, Mr Speaker, have championed, have been championing the cause of women. And I did not been up to them, Mr Speaker, we probably would have still been giving lip service to what is now about to become a women's parliamentary caucus. I know that the President of the Senate, Mr Speaker, I know that she reached out to female presiding officers in Grenada, in Belize, in Antigua. She has completed several CPA courses dealing with women's caucuses and during my time at the parliament, which was not very long ago, Mr Speaker, I could often hear her calling persons for information about all past and current parliamentarians from 1979, the women parliamentarians that is and she was adamant that she had to create this women's parliamentary registry. And Mr Speaker, she even appointed one of the members of staff from the parliament as secretary to the women's caucus. So today should indeed be a proud day for the women parliamentarians in St. Lucia and for women in general. And I want to thank the Honourable Prime Minister for allowing this motion to be placed on the other people. And if there has been a Prime Minister in St. Lucia who has always been, and I want to use my, choose my language very carefully, has been very fond of women and women empowerment. This is the member for castries. And in new member, in new member, the women of St. Lucia they have a shoulder to lean on. In you, they find hope. Also in the member for Denry North, the women find hope. They have hope. So, and I want to encourage you member for castries to continue to be a beacon of hope to our women in St. Lucia. And with this said, I want to wish all the women in St. Lucia, especially, Mr. Speaker, the women from the beautiful constituency of Miku North, a wonderful and happy International Women's Month. And I want to encourage members to support this motion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.