“Women and Citizenship in Jamaica” is the title of the first conversation in the series dubbed Through Women’s Eyes: Conversations on Independence set for Wednesday, February 29, 2012 at 5 pm at Liberty Hall, 76 Kings Street. The Conversation which takes the form of a panel discussion will include panelists: Professor Verene Shepherd, Director, Institute for Gender and Development Studies (Regional Coordinating Unit) who will provide an historical perspective on the topic and Renee Nelson who will speak to the issue of Jamaican Women and the Referendum. Additionally Linnette Vassell, Chairperson, Women's Resource and Outreach Centre (WROC) will continue the conversation as she addresses the topic, Independence & Women’s Citizenship: Unfinished Business while Barbara Gloudon, veteran journalist, will give her personal perspective. 
 
The panel discussion will also examine the contributions made by women in the process of independence, equality of women in society and political representation of women. 
 
The IGDS at UWI in collaboration with Sir Arthur Lewis Institute for Social and Economic Studies (SALISES), UWI, Mona, Women’s Resource and Outreach Centre (WROC) and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation of Jamaica (FES) recently launched the Through Women’s Eyes: Conversations on Independence, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of political independence in the Commonwealth Caribbean. 
 
The Series of conversations is designed to create a space for the perspectives and experiences of women’s voices. Through Women’s Eyes seeks to facilitate a comprehensive reflection on the lived realities of Caribbean people, particularly women and girls with the view to chart possible directions for the future. It will however also capture the views of men on specific issues during the Series. The sequence of conversations will also critically assess the success of the independence project over the last fifty years through several themed panel discussions centred on four major themes namely: social, economic, political and environmental issues.  
 
The Series is framed within the context of Vision 2030 of Jamaica and Vision 2020 of Trinidad and Tobago, and as part of the SALISES 50/50 Project, which provides a critical assessment of the fifty years of independence Caribbean nations from a retrospective and prospective viewpoint. The SALISES 50/ 50 Research Project is aimed at entertaining a wide range of issues that are peculiar to a single or several territories of the Caribbean.