How have women progressed over the past forty years in The Bahamas Essay

How have women progressed over the past forty years in The Bahamas - Essay Example This paper focuses on how women in the Bahamas acquired the rights to vote, progression of women in leadership especially in politics, education, and legal affairs, as well as issues of poverty and level of income among women. One of the significant progressions of women in the Bahamas is the acquisition of the right to vote. Recently, the Bahamas celebrated the 51st centenary of the Women’s Suffrage Movement. In the past, women and other individuals who did not own property were no allowed to vote in the Bahamas. This movement took place in the 1950’s and it was aimed at fighting for the rights of women to vote like the male population (Hannas-Ewers 70). According to Komolafe, women all over the world were involved in a lot of struggles that saw the world start advocating for the rights of women and issues of equality. It is important to posit that the Bahamas was colonized by the United Kingdom with the earliest English settlers occupying their land as early as the se venteenth century. They gained their independence on July 10, 1973. During the colonial era, only men owning assets were allowed to vote. The reason behind this was the notion that men owning assets laid more significance on the having an efficient leadership (A4). To understand the progression of women in the Bahamas over the last forty years in terms equality in voting, it is important to elucidate the fact that the advancement of shared and collective situations as well as the initiative of impartiality started as early as the nineteenth century. This period saw a lot of women advancing in education and hence many women were involved in development and transformation agendas. This laid the foundation of the Women’s Suffrage Movement. During the periods of the struggle, both women and men were opposed and demanded a rectification of cultural, opinionated, and financial disparities. In 1960, steps and strategies were put into place that would allow women to vote. Consequentl y, women in the Bahamas participated in their initial voting exercise in 1962. The Bahamian constitution is heralded as a preeminent document but some parts form the basis for the discrimination against women. This is supported by West who posits that â€Å"The Women’s Suffrage Movement founded by Mary Ingraham, Georgina Symonette, and Eugenia Lockhart in the early to mid 1950’s aimed to attain the vote for women. With the help of Dr. Doris Johnson, the first Bahamian woman to obtain a doctorate, who mobilized the organization, women succeeded in obtaining the vote in 1961. They voted for the first time in 1962† (22). The United Nations implemented plans of actions that necessitated all nations to bring to an end disparity against women in 1979. This plan of action is known as the International Bill of Rights for Women. This was approved and endorsed by the Bahamas government in 1993. This move significantly ended prejudice and unfairness against women (West 22) . However, according to the constitution, women are given equivalent liberties and privileges based on whether their children are citizens of the Bahamas or whether they are citizens in another country. Currently, women in the Bahamas have made a lot of progression in politics. West points out that â€Å"Dr. Doris Johnson was the first woman to be a cabinet minister (1968) and the first to

Search and seizures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Search and seizures - Essay Example Constitution are meant to protect the citizens from any act that may infringe on their privacy and therefore every person is protected from any form of unreasonable search or seizure by the state or its federal agencies at the time of enforcement of the law. However, the Fourth amendment also allows searches and seizures in some instances especially when it is considered reasonable and for the interest of the public. This means that law enforcement agencies may at times put aside a person’s concern about his privacy or that of his property and conduct a search or a seizure without a warrant. For this to be qualified, it must be proven that the agency has a probable cause to have a strong conviction that they may find from you may point to the commission of a crime or that certain circumstances have justified that a search or a seizure should be conducted without a warrant. Mapp vs Ohio (1961) The facts of this case are that the police stormed into Ms Mapp’s house believ ing that a bombing suspect was hiding in there despite her protests. The police carried a piece of paper to her that they claimed to have been a warrant of search when she demanded that a search warrant be presented to her before the search is carried out. It later turned out that the paper the police waved to her was not a search warrant neither was the bombing suspect hiding in the house. However, the police found sexually explicit books and photographs in her home and she was later convicted for possession of obscene items under the Ohio state law. She appealed her conviction on the basis of the First Amendment but the court quashed the conviction on the basis that she could not be convicted on the basis of items obtained without a search warrant as it violated her right as enshrined in the Fourth amendment of the United States constitution. The court based its ruling on the exclusionary rule that forms an important part of the Fourth Amendment that prohibits any state from depri ving any person the right to life, liberty or property without following the due process of the law (Stocks, 73). Katz vs United States, 389 U.S.347 (1967) This case affirmed that wiretapping of conversations in public payphones without a warrant grossly violated the protections against unreasonable search and seizure as enshrined in the Fourth Amendment. The petitioner Katz was charged in a court of law for being engaged in gambling through state telephone lines that was deemed to be illegal by the authorities. State enforcement agencies used warrantless wiretaps to listen and track his conversations on matters that touched on the illegal gambling transactions. Through an almost unanimous vote of 7-1, the U.S Supreme Court held that the placing of a warrantless wiretap on public payphones is a violation of the rights that citizens enjoy under the Fourth Amendment (Stephens and Richard, 335). There was a test on the constitutionality of private conversations done in public places th at has been applied by numerous courts thereafter. These include whether the person under charge has exhibited an expectation of want of privacy and that the larger public as that which is reasonable can recognize the expectation. Chimel vs California (1969) The question that the court was faced with in this case is what constitutes an unreasonable search as compared with the rights enshrined in the Fourth Amendment of the United States. This was an evaluation of those instances that a police officer may conduct what can be