FIVE female driving instructors in St. Lucia were thrust into the spotlight on Tuesday, International Women’s Day.
In keeping with the theme for this year’s observance: “Planet 50-50 by 2030 the National Association of Driving Schools of Saint Lucia decided to honour five women who stand out in a male dominated profession.
Said the Association: “Saint Lucia has about 70 driving instructors with only five being women and this certainly comes with the obstacles and stigma associated with being a female driver and even more so, an instructor”.
The Association said it positions itself as being one which seeks to foster an environment of gender parity where women can explore their full economic potential. “Great pleasure is taken in honouring these five outstanding instructors”, it added.
The Association provided profiles of its five honorees as follows:
Margaret B. Joseph, is certainly the most experienced female driving instructor on island with more than eight years in the business. Her interest in becoming an instructor was fuelled by her first job opportunity as a receptionist with Joe’s Driving School.
Margaret has continued to guide new and upcoming drivers while at the same time influencing new female instructors like a former student, turned instructor Naomi Alexander.
Naomi Alexander is one of the youngest driving instructors on island entering the field in 2014. Her passion was discovered after completing her driving classes with a female instructor Margaret Joseph.
Naomi claims to suffer from a “like to drive syndrome” and this continues to motivate her in teaching persons to be safe road users.
Carol Constable is the only female instructor in the south of the island who has been assisting her husband through the years to teach new drivers. While Carol has been a driver for over 16 years she officially became an instructor about a year ago. Her inspiration stemmed from support she received from a particular female student who encouraged her to explore her skills as an instructor.
KishaBaptiseis the owner and instructor of EZEE Driving School. With eight years of experience in driving she recently got her instructors licence just about a year ago.
Her motivation is driven by her determination to offer professional service to road users and to inspire other women to become instructors. She continues to draw on the energies of obstacles to further her cause in becoming economically independent.
Avellina Stacy Nelson is the recent addition to the pool of female driving instructors, acquiring her driving instructor’s licence only a few months ago. However what makes Avellina unique not only as an entrepreneur having her own riding and driving school – Kick Start Riding and Driving School–but she is the only female riding instructor in Saint Lucia.
Her passion for riding bikes and driving trailer trucks and coasters came from interaction with her father Mr. Andrew Nelson who owned and operated trucks and coasters. Avellina is driven by the joy of teaching others, be it as a dance or riding instructor. She hopes to be a source of motivation to other upcoming instructors and shorten the gap in the current gender parity in the field of driving and riding instructors.
As I was reading your article, you write about how there are 70 driving instructors in this area with only 5 of them being women. I had no idea that driving instructors were mostly male. It’s great to see that these female driving instructors are being honored for being great at what they do.