NDP’s Gibson- Velox: No More Cookie to Secure Job and No! Means No!

By Admin. Updated 8:32 a.m., Sunday, November 16, 2025, Atlantic Standard Time (GMT-4). 

New Democratic Party (NDP) candidate Laverne Gibson-Velox delivered a fiery address at a political rally in North Leeward, pledging a list of reforms to confront violence against women and expand opportunities for female empowerment. Her remarks placed women’s rights at the center of the NDP’s campaign agenda, while criticizing the Unity Labour Party (ULP) for what she described as years of neglect.

Gibson-Velox accused the ULP of failing to uplift women and their families, pointing to the closure of the Women’s Desk an initiative established under a previous NDP administration to provide redress for women as a symbol of failure. She argued that violence against women and girls remains “far too commonplace” in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, citing physical, verbal, psychological, sexual, and socio economic abuse as urgent issues that demand national attention. “All women have been let down by the ULP government, and we have to fix that,” she declared.

The candidate outlined a series of commitments that an NDP government, led by Dr. Godwin Friday, would pursue if elected on November 27. She promised the establishment of a National Employment and Skills Strategy that places women at the center of targeted interventions and career pathways. She also pledged to launch a Women’s Entrepreneurship Program under a National Innovation Hub, designed to support young female entrepreneurs and expand opportunities for economic independence. In addition, Gibson-Velox vowed to expand emergency shelters and safe houses to protect vulnerable women, while introducing legal reforms to ensure recourse for marital rape, stressing that “no means no even in marriage.”

Her speech also addressed workplace protections, promising stronger laws against sexual harassment and an end to exploitative practices that force women to trade dignity for employment. “You will die with your dignity no more giving up the cookie to secure a job an NDP government will protect you,” she said, assuring supporters that no NDP minister would ever demand sexual favors in exchange for jobs or opportunities.

Gibson-Velox positioned the NDP as the party of reform and protection for women and families. With elections less than two weeks away, her message underscored the party’s intent to make gender equality and empowerment a focus of its governance agenda.  

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