"Feminism means doing exactly what you want to do. If you decide to get married, have children, and manage your household, power to you. If you want to go out, have a career, not have any children, power to you. It boils down to what makes you happy."Nicole Dyer-Griffith, recently appointed Senator and Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Communications, has traversed the ultimate feminist continuum, from T&T's representative in the Miss Universe Pageant in 1999, to communications executive, to entrepreneur, and now takes her place in Parliament.Each step of the way, she has learned something new, honed her philosophy on life, and refined her vision for herself as worker, wife, mother and nation-builder.She doesn't see her Miss Universe experience as anti-feminist in the least. As far back as her pageant days in 1999, the concept of a woman's role in beauty pageants had begun to evolve.
"It's not so much about who looks better than whom. Pageant organisers are devoting more time and energy to the development of the person, so young women who have gone through the process will gain so much more."Personal and professional development, especially for women, is high on Senator Dyer-Griffith's agenda."Many people look at women's developmental programmes with some triviality. It's unfortunate, because the only time you really get an appreciation of these women's programmes is when you attend one."Fresh from the Regional Women's Colloquium held in Trinidad in June, she's burning with ideas about how she can play a role in transforming the lot of women in T&T, and is more sensitised to the universality of the female experience."The one thing that connected most of the women there is that we have to figure how we're going to manage our family life and our professional life. We have to figure out how to break the glass ceiling and demand the same wages as our male counterparts. It was a good experience to share strategies and solutions, and come up with a convention that would recognise the role of women across borders."
When it comes to managing her own family life, Senator Dyer-Griffith faces the additional challenge of her husband, Captain Gary Griffith, also being active in politics.But she's determined not to let her 8-year-old son be sucked in by the undertow. She involves him in her work where appropriate, to make sure he gains an understanding of her role in the complex governmental machinery. Otherwise, he's happy to be cared for by her network of family support, and she's happy to let him.Just about two weeks into her senatorial portfolio, she's busy meeting the people she'll be working with, and gaining an understanding of her new responsibilities, but insists that she's not 'settling in'. "When you settle, dust gathers on you," she says with alaugh.Senator Dyer-Griffith takes the time to commend women's rights advocate, Hazel Brown, for helping to steer her along the rough and thorny path of politics."I attended Put a Woman, a special training programme she has for women in politics, across the parties."She even goes as far as to suggest that Ms. Brown expand her programme to include female executives, rather than just politicians."She's tireless. She's deserving of every award she gets."She doesn't think the hullabaloo surrounding her and the unpopular hosting of the Miss Universe Pageant in Trinidad has done any harm, either to her ego or to her public image.
"If it didn't make me stronger, I wouldn't be here. It was like walking through a fire. Now, it's not that fire can't burn me, but I'm prepared for it. "After having tried her hand at nursing, beauty contests, communications and business management, why choose politics as the next world to conquer?"Politics chose me," she clarifies. "It has to, or you're not going to stay in the game long." Like many mothers, her decision to become active was born out of a need to make this a better place for her young son. "I felt stirred; I wanted not just to complain from an armchair.I decided to be a part of it and see if I could do it myself." After COP's defeat in 2007, she almost had second thoughts. She returned to the corporate world, but the lure of the snap election was too much to resist.Ultimately, she doesn't see the shift from business to politics as a drastic change. As a communications executive, she relied on the philosophy of transformational leadership, and in her new position, it's no different."You must be the change you want," she says. "I am surrounded by transformational leaders, particularly women leaders, from my Prime Minister to my mother. Women who have blazed the trail and charted their destinies, and in whom we can say we are well pleased."