Dec 08 - GWA Delighted By New Monument
The Gibraltar Women’s Association (GWA) says it is delighted that the Statue for All Women has now been unveiled. The GWA would also like to thank the Chief Minister and his wife for making it a reality in this, the association’s 50th Anniversary year.
A statement continued: “We are very proud to part of this momentous occasion commemorating the GWA's past history and future empowerment of the strength of women in Gibraltar. We would also like to thank Tommy Finlayson for the photos, Jonathan Fortunato for technical support and Gareth Gingell for the short video which was played at the reception, with the message from Mariola Summerfield one of the founders of the GWA.Thanks also goes out to the committee past and present for their commitment to this project.”
Below is a short piece sent by the GWA on the history behind the monument:
Statue to commemorate women in Gibraltar Past – Present and Future
This year the Gibraltar Women’s Association celebrate their 50 years as an association. The Gibraltar Women’s Association was originally formed as the Housewives’ Association. The name was changed to coincide with the modernisation of women in our society.
Seven brave and courageous women founded the association and still 50 years on the association is thriving.
This association was the idea of Angela Smith in which she formed (with six other brave women) –– Mariola Summerfield, Sharon Dumas, Brenda Llambias, Violet Baker, Magda Picardo and Dorothy Scott-Stephenson, when they had got together after having heard that the frontier was about to close.
These courageous ladies were able to gather hundreds of women of all ages and from every walk of life. In doing so they changed the course of our history. Women from all over society took on those jobs that, up until then, had been carried out by frontier workers. Without their assistance, Gibraltar could have been brought to a complete standstill. By helping society at that time they also opened the doors for women to work if they wanted to continue to work after the crisis. The Women’s’ Association also presented a petition to the Queen to keep Gibraltar British in perpetuity.
The association has continued to fight for women's rights by challenging laws to be changed and have also taken up many important issues during the last fifty years and have done so very successfully.
A lot of good work has been done by many women in Gibraltar and it is for this reason that we feel very strongly that Gibraltar owes a debt of gratitude, not only to the founder members, but to women who have served in some way to help make Gibraltar what it is today.
In 2006 the Gibraltar Women’s Association requested the Government at that time for a statue dedicated to women's efforts suitably located in a prominent position so that our people may never forget the work done by all women – past, present and future. Unfortunately, the lady that was going to do the design was no longer in Gibraltar and was unable to do it. So it was back to the drawing board.
In 2010 the Government opened a competition for local entries for a statue to commemorate all women in Gibraltar. The entry date closed in August 2010. In 2011 there was a change in Government so the campaign had to start again from scratch. After a meeting with our Present Chief Minister we got the ball rolling again. In 2013, the Government's commitment to this monument was announced by the Chief Minister in his speech on International Women's Day.
The winner for a monument to celebrate women in Gibraltar was local architect Ruth Macias Greenberg. It was announced by Samantha Sacramento, Minister for Equality and Social Services, at a reception at the Mayor's Parlour. Her design stands as a symbol of the strength of women. It depicts three women symbolically representing a stylised Rock of Gibraltar. The proposed sculpture was praised by the Minister who described the design in its stylised depiction of women in Gibraltar's history.
A panel from the Ministry for Culture had decided the winning piece. There were a total of 23 entries.
The panel also commended the following entries:
- Alan John Perez
- Terence Orciel
- Stephen Wong
- Gillaine Vanessa Pau
So it is with pleasure that finally after a lot of back and forth the Statue to Commemorate All Women has become a reality. May we never forget these founder members who we owe our legacy to and to the many other women who have and are and will work for the best of our Gibraltar.
{fcomment}
