From Where I Stand: The Myth of The Independent Woman

Mar 15, 2026 Features / Columnists, News

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By Janelle A.N. Persaud

(Kaieteur News) – Every year we gather around a theme. We repeat familiar phrases about empowering women and unlocking potential. And while many of those statements are true, I cannot help feeling that they often sit uncomfortably atop deeper structural realities that remain largely unchanged. And we don’t like to have those conversations.

So, when the editor asked me to write something “affirming for women” for International Women’s Day[last Sunday], my immediate response surprised even me. I told him I did not think I had anything affirming to say specifically to women. And this wasn’t because I do not believe women deserve to be celebrated. Of course they do. I have simply grown wary of the slogans that tend to accompany these commemorations.

Guyana, like many societies, struggle with inequality. I care deeply about the disadvantaged in our society. Women are certainly among them. But they are not the only ones. The elderly, children, the poor, and even men face vulnerabilities that rarely enter the conversation.

If we work on improving structural inequality and other systemic challenges period then the conditions of everyone, including women will improve over time.

So when I am asked to offer affirmations specifically to women, I find myself wondering: what does empowerment really mean if the systems around us remain largely intact?

Of course, this doesn’t deny the fact that much has changed for women over the years. Today, women enjoy educational opportunities, professional pathways, and legal protections those previous generations could barely imagine. Many women have entered spaces that were once closed to them. The question before us is hardly whether women have advanced, they clearly have. I am more concerned about whether the systems we have inherited or perpetuate are truly designed to support the full flourishing of our families and communities.

Any society serious about empowerment, must also examine the structures that shape everyday life: childcare systems, family-friendly workplaces, responsible fatherhood, community support networks, and economic opportunities that allow parents to remain present in their children’s lives.

My own life has helped me to see this tension between empowerment and the structures that support it.

For many years I embraced the idea of the “independent woman.” Like many women of my generation, I worked hard, built a career, and convinced myself that independence meant being able to do everything on my own.

But the truth is, I am not an independent woman. I never was. I was an exhausted woman who believed and desperately tried to make true, one of the biggest lies told to women; “you can have it all”.

I am a woman who has been helped by many people along the way.

When I was studying at university, my sisters and my son’s grandmother helped care for my child while I prepared for exams. At another point in my life, a partner helped finance my education so I did not have to take on student debt. Throughout my journey, men and women alike opened doors, offered support, and stood beside me when I needed it.

And above all, I believe God placed people in my life at the moments when I needed them most. So when I hear the language of absolute independence, I sometimes wonder if we are telling ourselves a story that no human life actually reflects.

None of us succeeds alone.

The deeper question for me is not simply whether women should participate fully in the workforce. Of course they should have that opportunity. Choice matters. But I worry that we have not fully considered the social consequences of the model we are building.

This question feels especially relevant at a moment when Guyana itself is undergoing profound economic transformation. The oil economy is creating new opportunities, expanding industries, and drawing more citizens; women included, into the workforce. These developments are important and in many ways welcome. But economic transformation also raises other questions about the social structures that must evolve alongside it. If our economy grows while our family and community systems remain strained, then prosperity alone will not produce the flourishing society we hope to build.

Today, many households likely depend on two incomes simply to maintain a decent standard of living. At the same time, there is a significant number of single mothers raising children on their own. In both cases, the demands of economic survival often mean that parents have less time and attention to devote to the difficult and important work of raising the next generation.

I know this very well from personal experience.

For years I believed that as long as I was providing for my son by ensuring he had access to good schools, technology, food, and opportunities that I was giving him everything he needed. But there came a moment when I realised that what he needed most was not simply provision. He needed my attention.

I am not trying to provide an argument against women working or pursuing careers. Rather, what I seek to offer is a reminder that empowerment cannot be measured only through economic participation.

Human flourishing requires more than income. It requires families, communities, and relationships that nurture the next generation.

Another uncomfortable reality is that sometimes, as women we can be our own worst critics/enemies.

Over the years I have heard some of the harshest and most unkind rumors about my own career and personal life. More often than not, those rumors did not originate with men. They came from other women.

It is something many women quietly acknowledge but rarely discuss openly. Instead of celebrating one another’s successes or learning from each other’s journeys, we sometimes pull each other down.

If we truly want respect from the wider society, perhaps we must also ask whether we are extending that same respect to each other.

All this said, if I could offer one honest thing to women in Guyana today, it would simply be this:

We do not have to do any of this alone.

Independence does not have to mean isolation. Strength certainly isn’t carrying every burden by ourselves. We can lean on our families, our communities, and yes, the men in our lives, without diminishing our own value.

We can celebrate another woman’s success without feeling like it threatens our own.

And perhaps most importantly, we can remember that societies flourish when communities stand together. Too often we divide ourselves unnecessarily; women against men, women against each other, communities against themselves.

But the truth is simpler than any slogan we can conceive. None of us was meant to do this life alone.

And perhaps that is the most empowering message we could offer one another today.

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• Independent Woman, Janelle Persaud, Myth, Woman day

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