Women should not let men dominate the Independence debate even though there are few females in the House of Assembly.

This was the view expressed by Harrington Sound Workman's Club president Mr.

Fred Thomas who held an Independence meeting last week in an effort to bring the community together.

Although only four people attended the discussion and it only lasted for a short period of time, strong opinions on the subject were shared.

"I am very surprised that so few women are getting involved in the referendum discussions,'' Mr. Thomas said.

He added: "Women still need to be heard in terms of their opinion on the referendum. Men seem to be dominating the discussions, but women are the future and they produce the children.

"They have to voice their opinions because it will be their children who will live in the next century.'' Mr. Thomas also said he was very surprised at the number of people who turned out for the meeting.

"I invited the entire community to attend this meeting in an effort to make use of the newly renovated club.'' One participant, Dr. Eva Hodgson, who was the only female to attend the meeting, said: "We need more active participation from the community instead of depending on Government leaders.'' Another attendee, who did not want to be named, said children needed to start learning how to be independent from primary school age, having personal independence.

Commenting on all the Independence meetings that have been held, he added: "The system just burns people out. People go to these meetings and a lot has been said but little has been done.'' High priest Shiloh said: "The people projecting Independence cannot be trusted. I would be for Independence under the right conditions.

"I find it very embarrassing that those wicked politicians should throw the first referendum into the community for Independence when if we could have had referendums in politics concerning major issues Bermuda would be in a better position today to make this decision.'' He added: "It needs the general community to be educated before they make such a very important decision.''