Women are “more needed than ever” to step up in politics, the island’s first Progressive Labour Party premier said yesterday.

Dame Jennifer Smith, who led the PLP to its historic 1998 victory, said: “Women who are there in politics should each pick a protégée, someone they can manage and encourage to go further.”

She added: “To aim towards bringing our statistics in line with the actual number of women in Bermuda would be a great accomplishment.”

Dame Jennifer was speaking after she gave a speech at an event designed to celebrate the contribution of women to the PLP.

Her speech on September 23 highlighted women as the backbone of party membership.

Dame Jennifer said many of them, including herself, were guided by Dame Lois Browne Evans, who was the first female Opposition leader in the Commonwealth.

She added: “I was not on the front lines at the beginning, but I was encouraged into volunteerism and taking responsibility for my own actions and I realised women could do that.

“I had the best mentor in the world with Dame Lois.”

Dame Jennifer added that Ann Pindar was an early unsung hero of the PLP.

She said Ms Pindar, a trade unionist and confidante of Dame Lois, was selected by the Bermuda Industrial Union to attend a conference in Barbados because no men were available.

Ms Pindar brought home key documents from the conference, including a copy of a party constitution, that were used to form the PLP in 1963.

Dame Lois and Ms Pindar passed on the documents to male party members to present them to the founding inner circle.

Dame Jennifer said Ms Pindar revealed her role at a PLP founder’s day lunch in 2012, when she was 89.

She added Ms Pindar also made an early, but unsuccessful, bid for the party as a candidate.

Dame Jennifer told The Royal Gazette: “If it was tough for men to run, it was extra tough for women of that day.

“They had families and jobs. I was single, and worked at the Bermuda Recorder.”

Dame Jennifer followed Dame Pamela Gordon Banks, who was premier in the last United Bermuda Party government and the first woman to hold the highest political role.

Dame Jennifer’s speech was delivered at one of a series of commemorations planned for the 20th anniversary of the 1998 win.

The party’s “mother-daughter soirée” at the Rosewood Bermuda resort was attended by 172 women.

Kristin Burt, the wife of David Burt, the Premier, as well as Wanda Brown and Olga Scott, the wives of former premiers Ewart Brown and Alex Scott, were patrons.

Dame Jennifer told the audience at the event that eight women ran for the PLP in the 2017 General Election and half of them won their seats.

She added: “We need more women in Parliament because women bring a sensitivity with them, a history of being peacemakers, knowing how to deal with different personalities, being multitaskers, knowing how to make a way out of no way.”

Dame Jennifer said women need to “stand up” and called for at least half of parliamentary candidates to be women.

She added: “Today, there is more need than ever to encourage women to stand for election.”

Corporate sponsors for the event were Wesley Miller of ENT Bermuda, Dorothy Crane Nursing Home and Bermuda HealthCare Services.

• To read the full text of Dame Jennifer Smith’s speech, click on the PDF link under “Related Media”.