Profile of Janet Jagan, O.E. – First Woman President of Guyana
BORN: Janet Rosenberg - October 20, 1920.
PLACE: Chicago, Illinois, USA.
EDUCATION: University of Detroit; Wayne University; Michigan State College; Cook County School of Nursing.
PERSONAL DETAILS: Married Cheddi Jagan, August 5, 1943; has two children and five grand-children.
LABOUR/POLITICAL HISTORY: Janet Jagan came to British Guiana in December 1943, and worked for 10 years as Dental Nurse in Dr Cheddi Jagan's clinic. She almost immediately became involved in the labour struggle and was a member of the colony's first-ever union, the British Guiana Labour Union. She worked with labour hero, Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow, to organise domestics.
1946: With other Women, founded the Women's Political and Economic Organisation (later called W.P.O.)
Co-founder of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC). Edited the PAC Bulletin.
1947: Contested the general elections under limited franchise in Central Georgetown. She lost.
1948: Took part in fund raising for the East Coast Demerara sugar strike which was put down by colonial police. She was acquainted with the men who were to become the Enmore Martyrs. Their struggle has since become hers.
1950: Co-founder of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), and was Elected party's General Secretary and held that post between 1950-1970. Since then she is a Member of the General Council, Central Committee and Executive Committee of the People’s Progressive Party. She has served as International Secretary and Executive Secretary.
Appointed first editor of Thunder, PPP’s official organ. Became the first elected woman to the Georgetown City Council.
1953: A founder of the Women's Progressive Organisation, she continues to hold the post of President of this premier women's association.
1953: One of the three women to enter the house of assembly, as a representative of the Essequibo constituency. First woman to become Deputy Speaker of the Legislature.
1955: Following suspension of the Constitution and the ouster of PPP Government by the British colonialists, she was jailed for six months. Restricted after release to the city of Georgetown. She had to report to the police weekly.
1957: Janet Jagan was returned by the constituency of Essequibo to the Legislature. Appointed Minister of Labour, Health and Housing.
1963: On the death of the Minister of Home Affairs, Claude Christian, she became Minister of Home Affairs and a member of the Senate.
1964: Resigned as Minister in protest over incidents in Wismar.
1967: Opposition member on the Elections Commission. She warned the nation about elections rigging.
1970 - 1997: Mrs. Jagan along with fellow journalists at the "Mirror" - Clinton Collymore, Moses Nagamotoo and Kellawan Lall, founded the Union of Guyanese Journalists (UGJ) and she became its first President.
1973 - 1997: Editor of the Mirror Newspaper.
After PPP ended a boycott of Parliament to protest against the rigging of the elections in 1973, she returned to the House as an opposition MP. She served in the House continuously, and was returned in 1980, 1985 and 1992. In April 1997 she was the longest serving member of Parliament.
1992: After Guyana's first free and fair elections in post -independent Guyana, she was designated First Lady of the Republic. She continued her work as Editor of Mirror.
1993: Three-month stint as Ambassador to the United Nations when Guyana's Permanent Representative, Dr Rudy Insanally was elected President of the General Assembly.
Appointed Chairperson of Castellani House Committee of Management - home of the National Art Collection; and Chairperson of National Commission on the Rights of the Child.
Mar. 17, 1997: Janet Jagan was sworn in as Guyana's first woman Prime Minister and First Vice-President.
Dec. 19, 1997 : Janet Jagan was sworn in as the first woman President of the Republic of Guyana and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. She resigned on August 8, 1999 due to ill health.
PUBLICATIONS: Author of several publications including works on the history of the PPP and Rigged Elections in Guyana; and 5 children's story books among which are "When Grandpa Cheddi was a Boy", "Children's Stories of Guyana's Freedom Struggles" and "Alligator Ferry Service".
HONOURS: Janet Jagan is recipient of the Nation's (Guyana's) highest honour - Order of Excellence (O.E.), Woman of Achievement award from the University of Guyana and in 1997 the Gandhi Gold Medal for Peace, Democracy and Women's Rights by UNECSO.
Profile: Janet Jagan - Politician of Firsts
Janet Jagan, Guyana's fourth Executive President, is a woman of a number of firsts in her long history of involvement in her adopted country's politics.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, USA on October 20, 1920, she was to become Guyana's first woman Deputy Speaker, first woman to be elected in the Georgetown City Council, first woman cabinet minister under self-government, later first woman Prime Minister and then the nation's first woman President.
She was educated at the University of Detroit; Wayne University; Michigan State College and Cook County School of Nursing.
She married Cheddi Jagan on August 5, 1943, then studying dentistry and travelled with him to then British Guiana shortly after to become involved in a lifetime of politics.
Within three years of her arrival with her husband in the colony of British Guiana in 1943, she was instrumental in the formation of a Women's Political and Economic Organisation and later a co-founder of the Political Affairs Committee that was the forerunner to the People's Progressive Party (PPP).
She worked with the country's legendary labour hero, Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow, particularly in organising domestics, and was also a leading figure in organising of strikes by sugar workers in 1948, a period when a group of workers were shot by the police and came to be known as the "Enmore Martyrs".
In 1950 she became a co-founder of the PPP, along with her husband, the trade union expert and lawyer, Ashton Chase and the late Jocelyn Hubbard, another trade union figure, Ram Karran, Sydney King and others.
Janet Jagan speaking to workers in the 1940's
Also in that year she was elected General Secretary of the PPP, a post she was to retain for two decades until 1970; and became the first woman elected to the Georgetown City Council.
She entered the House of Assembly for the first time in 1953, when she was elected Deputy Speaker. She was among the political prisoners of that year - others included her husband and the late national poet, Martin Carter - following the suspension of the Constitution by the British Government on allegations of a "communist conspiracy".
In 1957, when fresh elections were held and the PPP returned to office, she was appointed Minister of Labour, Health and Housing. In 1963/64 she served as Minister of Home Affairs and Senator, following the death of Minister Claude Christian. She quit as Home Affairs Minister declaring non-cooperation from the then British-controlled Police Force, and subversion of her government.
Splitting her time and energy between party headquarters, Freedom House and as editor of the PPP-backed "Mirror" newspaper, she was to return to parliament at successive elections in 1973, 1980, 1985 and 1992
She became First Lady of the Republic with her husband's inauguration as Executive President in October 1992, and then served for a six-month period as Guyana's Ambassador to the United Nations.
In March 1997 when President Jagan died, she became the country's first woman Prime Minister and First Vice-President. On December 19,1997, she was sworn in as President and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, when the PPP won the elections. She resigned due to ill health in 1999.
Mrs. Jagan, who has been Editor of "Mirror" for about 24 years, has written a number of publications, largely children's books, including stories of Guyana's struggle for independence.
She is the recipient of the country's highest honour; Order of Excellence (OE), the Woman of Achievement award from the University of Guyana, and in 1997 the Gandhi Gold Medal for Peace, Democracy and Women's Rights by UNECSO.
