Is There Prejudice Against Dark Skin Jamaican Women?

The plantation regime of slavery had a major impact on the Jamaican society long after the abolition of slavery. The lighter the skin, the more valuable you were during slavery and even today, after coming such a long way, that mentality still stands.

As recent as the 1960?s, dark skin Jamaican women were not the faces you would normally see serving in the banks, at the airline counters, at the hotel counters or at any of the higher positions in larger companies. It was well accepted that the place for the darker skin Jamaican women was certainly not in the better or more prestigious jobs. This took a major toll on the self-esteem of Young black Jamaican women, who accepted the position of living as a second class citizen. Darker skin women during the 1960?s did not bother much with higher education for various reasons, such as affordability, self-worth, having babies, not enough schools for higher education and not much in the future regarding better jobs.

The early 1970?s saw a new beginning and a turn in the direction regarding skin colour. A young politician by the name of Micheal Manley (very light complexion man) became the Prime minister of Jamaica and spoke out strongly regarding prejudice against the darker skin Jamaicans. He constantly preached about equality among all skin colour. Mr. Manley himself fell in love with and married Beverley Manley, a dark skin Jamaican woman, who sported an afro. Micheal Manley was loved by Jamaicans and was able to get his message across to many. Self-esteem among darker Jamaicans on a whole was on a high. Slogans like-PROUD TO BE BLACK and BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL were extremely popular. Songs included words like EMANCIPATE YOURSELVES FROM MENTAL SLAVERY, NONE BUT OURSELVES CAN FREE OUR MINDS ( Bob Marley ) and YOUNG GIFTED AND BLACK (made popular by Bob Andy and Marcia Griffiths were soaring on the charts in the 1970?s. Darker skin women were getting a boost of self-esteem. They were "proud to be black" and sported their neat afro, dressed confidently in their pedal pushers, mini skirts and hot pants. The faces that greeted customers at the service desks, banks and persons who represented companies as senior staff and managers were now including a number of Dark skin Jamaicans. As people became more aware of their self-worth, education became a priority.

SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE IN JAMAICA

You have to have one or all of the following to be socially accepted. Money, Education, Lighter complexion. Although Jamaica had never lost the whole stigma of the fair skin Jamaicans being the superior, the darker skin Jamaicans had become very aware that if they educate themselves, they could achieve greatness and become whatever they want to be. Black Jamaicans are now Bank Managers, Hotel Managers and owners, Doctors, Teachers, business owners and Might I say Prime minister!! Education has played quite an important roll in the lives of black Jamaicans who started achieving more, becoming bosses and professionals.

BLEACHING:

What could have brought on the recent craze for lighter skin among dark skin Jamaicans especially women!! This activity is identified mostly among the poorer class and the less educated. Could this be that the quest to be socially accepted has left them with no other choice? The poorer class obviously has no money, without money it is hard to get a higher education!! So the lighter skin might be the easiest of the three!! This certainly is no excuse for bleaching of the skin, as this is an extremely dangerous practice, which can negatively affect ones health.

HAVE BLACK MEN BETRAYED DARK SKIN WOMEN?

The darker skin women are losing the battle against the lighter skin women in the quest for love. Jamaican men seem to much favour the "brownings" (women with lighter complexion) and women of different race with lighter complexion. It is very obvious to see the pride and adoration in the faces of some black men when they walk down the street hand in hand with a light complexion woman!! One explanation given to me by a black man was "Black women do not groom themselves as well and things like going to the gym and spa are not very common among them". A very famous DJ unleashed a monster among Jamaicans when he released the popular song-"mi love mi car mi love mi bike mi love mi money an ting, but most of all mi love mi browning ". That popular song (although very catchy and I must admit, I danced to the beat a few times) took us back several years, as many Jamaican men felt and still feel the need to follow suite.

A LOOK AHEAD

The future looks very promising for the Dark skin Jamaican women, who have gotten far ahead in life, becoming Lawyers, doctors, Bank managers, Hotel managers even Prime minister, achieving Bachelors, Masters and PhD degrees. The future looks very bright, however loyalty from Jamaican Black men would be good. Most Black women are confident enough not to be needy, but to move forward to where they are appreciated and needed.

The question is have we really moved forward as a nation? It is really sad that a lack conscious thinking can hold a whole nation in the past.

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Women by State

This article lists women as a percentage of each state's population, per the 2010 U.S. census.

This data is relevant to national and state elections for two main reasons: Except for the deep south region, U.S. women are slightly more likely to vote Democratic than Republicans. Five of the six states (below) in which women comprise a very high percentage of the population are traditionally Democratic-blue states. In contrast, five of the nine states comprised of less than 50% women are staunchly Republican-red states, and the other four usually vote Republican.

"Recent polls have indicated that 41% of women identify as Democrats while only 25% of women identify as Republicans and 26% as independents, while 32% of men identify as Democrats, 28% as Republicans and 34% as independents," per Wikipedia.

Womens' issues, such as abortion and health care access, hold the potential of swaying women to vote Democratic rather than for Republican social conservatives.

A recent example occurred in red-state Arkansas in November 2011 when women voters defeated a "Personhood Amendment" pushed by evangelical Christian conservatives that would have criminalized abortions and many forms of birth control within the state.

In 2008, women voters were key to Democrat Obama winning the White House race. MSNBC reported on the morning after the historic election, "Women voters typically are crucial to a Democratic presidential victory, and Obama was pulling 55 percent of their votes, compared with 43 percent for McCain, according to exit polls. Obama and McCain were nearly even among male voters, who split 49-49 percent."

States with Very High Populations of Women
1. Alabama - 52.0% 2. New York - 51.6% 2. Massachusetts - 51.6% 2. Maryland - 51.6% 2. Delaware - 51.6% 2. Rhode Island - 51.6%

States with High Populations of Women
7. South Carolina - 51.4% 7. Mississippi - 51.4% 9. Pennsylvania - 51.3% 9. North Carolina - 51.3% 9. Connecticut - 51.3% 9. New Jersey - 51.3% 9. Tennessee - 51.3% 14. Ohio - 51.2% 14. Georgia - 51.2% 16. Florida - 51.1% 16. Maine - 51.1% 18. Missouri - 51.0% 18. Louisiana - 51.0% 20. Arkansas - 50.9% 20. Illinois - 50.9% 20. Michigan - 50.9% 20. Virginia - 50.9%

States with Median Populations of Women
24. Indiana - 50.8% 24. Kentucky - 50.8% 24. Vermont - 50.8% 27. New Hampshire - 50.7% 27. West Virginia - 50.7% 29. New Mexico - 50.6% 30. Iowa - 50.5% 30. Oregon - 50.5% 30. Oklahoma - 50.5% 33. California - 50.4% 33. Texas - 50.4% 33. Wisconsin - 50.4% 33. Minnesota - 50.4% 33. Nebraska - 50.4% 33. Kansas - 50.4% 39. Arizona - 50.3% 40. Washington - 50.2% 41. South Dakota - 50.0%

States with Low Populations of Women
42. Colorado - 49.9% 42. Idaho - 49.9% 42. Hawaii - 49.9% 45. Montana - 49.8% 45. Utah - 49.8% 47. Nevada - 49.5% 47. North Dakota - 49.5% 49. Wyoming - 48.9% 50. Alaska - 48.0%

Source - U.S. Census Bureau, Table 16 - Resident Population by Age and State: 2010

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Firsts for Women in Government

 Agnes Macphail, First Canadian Woman Member of Parliament

Kelsey Studio / Library and Archives Canada / C-006908

It's hard to believe that it wasn't until 1918 that Canadian women first had the same voting rights as men in federal elections. A year later women gained the right to run for election to the House of Commons and the election of 1921 was the first federal election that included female candidates. Here are more historical firsts for Canadian women in government.

Agnes Macphail was the first Canadian woman to be a member of parliament. She was a strong activist for penal reform and founded the Elizabeth Fry Society of Canada, a group working with and for women in the justice system. Cairine Wilson was the first woman appointed to the Canadian Senate, just months after the Persons Case gave women the right to sit in the Senate. It wasn't until 1953 that another woman was appointed to the Senate in Canada As Minister of Citizenship and Immigration in the Diefenbaker government, Ellen Fairclough was responsible for introducing measures which went a long way towards the elimination of racial discrimination in Canadian immigration policy. Bertha Wilson, the first woman justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, supported the broad application of the Canadian Charter of Rights. She is probably best known as the author of the Supreme Court decision overturning Criminal Code of Canada restrictions on abortion in 1988. Jeanne Sauvé was not only Canada's first Canadian woman Governor General, she was also one of the three first women members of parliament to be elected from Quebec, the first woman federal cabinet minister from Quebec, and the first woman Speaker of the House of Commons. Audrey McLaughlin went to the Yukon looking for adventure. She became a member of parliament for the Yukon, and was then elected leader of the federal New Democratic Party. Most of Rita Johnston's political career was as a municipal councillor in Surrey, British Columbia, but her foray into provincial politics landed her several cabinet minister posts and a short stint as Premier of British Columbia. A neurology researcher, Roberta Bondar was one of the six original Canadian astronauts selected in 1984 to train at NASA. Eight years later she became the first Canadian woman and the second Canadian astronaut to go into space. Although popular at the start of her brief tenure as Prime Minister, Kim Campbell led the Progressive Conservative Party to the greatest defeat in Canadian political history. Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, the first woman to head the Supreme Court of Canada, has tried to improve public understanding of the role of the Supreme Court and the judiciary in Canada.

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Ohio serial killer found guilty in kidnappings, murders of 11 women

 Anthony Sowell had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to 85 counts. He was found guilty on 83.NEW: Anthony Sowell is found guilty on 84 of 85 charges against himThe Ohio man, who may face the death penalty, presented an insanity defenseInvestigators found the first of 11 remains inside his home in October 2009Most of the victims, whose bodies were in various states of decay, had been strangled

(CNN) -- An Ohio jury Friday found Anthony Sowell guilty in connection with the kidnapping, abuse of corpses and aggravated murder of 11 women around Cleveland between 2007 and 2009.

Sowell had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to all 85 counts against him, which also included rape and tampering with evidence. The verdict -- which makes the defendant eligible for the death penalty, a decision that will come during the sentencing phase of the proceedings -- came after more than three weeks of testimony, with the prosecution resting its case against him Monday.

The defense did not call witnesses or present any evidence during the trial, according to CNN affiliate WOIO, and rested Tuesday. That paved the way for closing arguments, and by Wednesday, the case was in the jury's hands.

The jury's forewoman gave Cuyahoga County Judge Dick Ambrose the scores of completed verdict forms around 2:30 p.m. Friday, at which point he briefly adjourned the session so he could review the documents. Sporting a gray polo shirt, glasses and clean-cut goatee, Sowell stood and then sat stoically when the lengthy verdict was read aloud -- a process that lasted about an hour, starting around 3 p.m. He yawned once the process was complete.

The jurors found him guilty on 84 counts, with the sole not guilty verdict coming on an aggravated robbery charge.

In addition to murder, kidnapping and other charges, the defendant was also convicted of felonious assault, attempted rape and attempted murder in several cases. The jury determined that he committed numerous crimes "with a sexual motivation," a variation of the offenses that is distinct from the rape charges.

The verdicts ended a saga that began, for investigators, in October 2009 with the discovery of the first two sets of victims' remains inside Sowell's home. Eventually, prosecutors shaped a case claiming that the ex-Marine killed at least 11 women, ages 25 to 52, even as law enforcement reopened cold cases to determine if Sowell might be complicit in other murders.

More women, meanwhile, have since come forward alleging that they'd survived attacks by the now-convicted serial killer. One such story led prosecutors, for instance, to seek a 10-count indictment against Sowell in connection with the alleged rape of a 34-year-old woman inside his home.

Sowell grew up in East Cleveland, joined the Marines at age 18 and traveled to California, North Carolina and Japan, authorities said. People who interacted with him after his 2005 release from prison, where he had served 15 years for attempted rape, said he appeared to be "a normal guy," known locally for selling scrap metal.

His inconspicuous two-story home sits in a dilapidated neighborhood known as Mount Pleasant, where one in five homes was in foreclosure and at least a third of residents got food stamps, according to a 2010 study by Case Western Reserve University's Center on Urban Poverty and Community Development.

Neighbors and even a city councilman had failed to realize that the stench wafting in the area around Sowell's residence was from human flesh, and not a byproduct of a nearby sausage factory.

Moreover, the disappearance of the 11 women -- many of whom lived nearby -- went largely unnoticed for almost two years, with only four of them even being reported missing. Many of his alleged victims struggled with drug addiction at some point in their lives, with court records showing that many resorted to stealing and prostitution to support their habits.

In late 2008, Gladys Wade told police that a man in a gray hoodie offered her beer, and when she declined, he punched her in the face several times. Wade said that he then tried to rape her, dragging her toward his home, adding that she got out only after "gouging his face."

Police investigated Wade's complaint, with one police report noting blood droplets on Sowell's walls and steps. But officers told CNN affiliate WKYC that the case was dropped after Wade declined to press charges.

After Wade's complaint, six more women disappeared.

Then, on September 23, 2009, a 36-year-old Cleveland woman told police a story eerily similar to those of Wade and the woman whose 1989 account led to Sowell's first conviction for attempted rape. She said he'd invited her into his home for beer, punched her in the face, then began performing oral sex on her -- releasing her only after she promised to return the next day.

Sowell was then arrested. More than a month later, police entered his house and found two bodies rotting in his attic. These were the first of the 11 bodies they'd eventually discover, in various states of decay, on his property.

Most of the women whose remains were found in and around Sowell's home were strangled by ligature -- which can include a string, cord or wire -- and at least one was strangled by hand, officials said. Seven still had ligatures wrapped around their necks. A skull is all that remains of one victim. It was found wrapped in a paper bag and stuffed in a bucket in the home's basement.

Sowell's lawyers have declined previous requests by CNN to explain their case, and the suspect has not been interviewed. But in January 2010, attorney John Parker told The Plain Dealer newspaper in Cleveland that he felt police violated Sowell's Miranda rights as he was being interrogated.

Quoting : CNN.com