In celebration of Commonwealth Day and International Women’s Day, both held on Monday, 8 March 2021, CommonAge is proud to share the inspirational stories of older women from communities all over the Commonwealth.
The 2021 themes, ‘Delivering a Common Future’ and ‘Choose to Challenge’ respectively, manifest the Commonwealth’s commitment and ambition for a more prosperous and equal world which serves a common good.
These are philosophies embodied by the women in these stories, all of whom throughout their lives chose to challenge their living realities and in doing so, enabled the Commonwealth’s shared values of peace, democracy and equality to flourish.
Gloria Steinem, world-renowned feminist, journalist and activist once explained “The story of women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organisation but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights.”
Such is the spirit of ‘A Common Wealth of Experience’, a CommonAge publication launched in 2019, which celebrates the lived experiences of long lives and the invaluable contributions of women and men to their communities.
Telling the untold, this collection of short stories told by young authors gives privileged access to the profoundly unique experiences and challenges of individual lives across the Commonwealth. From trials and triumphs to love and loss, these short stories paint a rich and colourful picture of how the Commonwealth came to be, by giving a voice to the people who lived it.
The role of younger people, of whom there are 1 billion in the Commonwealth, is vital in not only sharing these messages of hope but by learning from the past, they also deliver the promise of a better world – for they are the people who create the culture of the future.
Through sharing and honouring the common experience of life itself, this ‘A Common Wealth of Experience’ upholds human rights in ageing, in gender and for the future to come.
You can download the full book, free of charge, online via the link here.
Dame Maizie Barker-Welch, 93, Barbados
The eldest of 12 children, Dame Maizie Barker-Welch was born in 1927 in pre-independent Barbados. Now 93 years old, her life’s achievements have included decorated years as a student, teacher, entrepreneur, politician and women’s rights activist.
After winning the first scholarly bursary ever offered on Barbados (by placing first in two exams ahead of 500 other students), Dame Maizie would go ahead to teach in schools across the island for nearly 20 years before setting her sights on entrepreneurship.
It was, however, her career in politics which would be the proudest jewel amongst her life’s achievements. Elected in her own right, Dame Maizie was the only female in parliament between 1986 and 1992. In 1992, she became the President of the National Organisation of Women, pursuing a life of advocacy for women who needed a voice.
Speaking with Dame Maizie, 21-year-old Krystal Hoyte, young journalist, writer and native Bajan herself, wrote:
“With a mentality just like the Chinese proverb, ‘give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime’, Dame Maizie set out to liberate the women of St. Joseph’.”
Just 18-years-old at the time, Hoyte instantly recognised Dame Maizie as a trailblazing champion of equality, who never ceased in challenging conventions which still exist today. Dame Maizie’s story, Hoyte wrote, “[was an] important example that women can indeed have it all, a husband and children (even four) and multiple careers.”
*This short story has been adapted from the original written by Krystal Hoyte (21) in ‘A Common Wealth of Experience’, published in 2019.
Rahima Begum, 87, Bangladesh
Born in a remote Rangpur village in the early 1930’s, Rahima Bagum had a modest start in life. At a young age, her father left in search of job opportunities and never returned. Her mother – driven by a steadfast determination to secure an education for her twelve children – made ends meet.
Moving to the city, Rahima would pursue education, eventually attaining a prized place at the prestigious Dhaka University, the best higher education institution in Bangladesh. With her degree in hand, Rahima would join a local school as a maths teacher, sharing the knowledge she had worked so hard to attain with others.
In Dhaka, she fell in love with her future husband, marrying at 22. Blissful years and healthy children followed as they began their new life together. However, by 1971 the Bangladesh Liberation War broke out when Rahima was pregnant for the sixth time. Rahima would join her husband as a freedom fighter until her sixth month of pregnancy.
Soon after returning home, more news of loss followed and Rahima learnt that her husband had been killed in the war. It was September, just three months before Bangladesh’s liberation from Pakistan.
Rahima dedicated her life to raising her children and her lasting legacy, all of whom were blessed with her gift of intelligence – of her four sons, three were doctors and one an engineer, of her two daughters, one became a doctor and another a housewife.
Speaking to Mahir Faysa MD, Rahima said “When you lose, lose with dignity. When you win, win with dignity too”.
*This short story has been adapted from the original written by Mahir Faysa in ‘A Common Wealth of Experience’, published in 2019.
In sharing these stories we hope to connect people across the world – in the spirit of Commonwealth Day – through our collective desire for a fairer world, for gender parity and the universally shared experiences of ageing and womanhood.
These stories are from a CommonAge publication, ‘A Commonwealth of Experience’. If you enjoyed this article, and would like to read more inspirational real-life stories, click here to download the free online book.