A woman’s burden? A historic change in Suriname’s presidency

In a feature published on June 11 by Global Voices, author Fausia S. Abdul chronicles a watershed moment in Suriname’s political history: the election of Jennifer Geerlings-Simons as the country’s first female president. The piece explores the complex intersections of gender, governance, and legacy in a nation at the crossroads of democratic renewal and post-colonial reckoning.

Geerlings-Simons, 72, is a veteran political figure who has served in parliament since 1996, chaired the National Assembly, and became leader of the National Democratic Party (NDP) in July 2024. Her presidency follows a May 25 general election that produced no clear majority. However, a six-party coalition formed by the NDP secured a supermajority in parliament on May 27, enabling her appointment as head of state.

“You will work hard,” she told voters during the campaign, a promise both candid and cautionary, according to Abdul’s analysis. The Global Voices feature positions Geerlings-Simons as both a continuation of the political establishment and a potential agent of change, having pledged to combat corruption, modernize the government, and reduce institutional bloat.

But as Abdul writes, Geerlings-Simons’ election is likely to be filtered through both a political and a gendered lens. In a region where women often lead households and social movements but remain underrepresented in the highest echelons of government, her presidency is both groundbreaking and burdened with expectations. She is already being referred to as “Aunty Jenny”, a term some, including youth activist Shanelle, say risks infantilizing or softening the seriousness of her role. “We need accountable leadership, not parental figures,” Shanelle told Global Voices.

The article also contextualizes Geerlings-Simons’ rise within broader feminist political struggles in the Caribbean and Latin America, noting parallels with leaders like Kamla Persad-Bissessar in Trinidad and Tobago, Mia Mottley in Barbados, and Michelle Bachelet in Chile, women who faced intense scrutiny while championing reform.

Still, challenges loom. Geerlings-Simons is the current leader of the NDP, the party formerly led by controversial figure Desi Bouterse, who was convicted of drug trafficking and implicated in the December Murders of 1982. As Abdul points out, this affiliation complicates her image. “To align yourself with a murderer is absolutely impossible to understand,” said Hilde Neus, a university lecturer in Paramaribo.

Economist Guillermo Samson noted that despite her rebranding efforts, the party’s core values remain questionable. “She is good with words, and her plans promise a prosperous Suriname,” he said, “but I remain critical.”

One of the most high-stakes issues facing the new administration is how it will handle Suriname’s recent offshore oil discoveries, expected to begin production by 2028. Geerlings-Simons has warned that without oversight, the windfall could deepen inequality. “Twenty families in Suriname [could become] billionaires and the rest of the country left in the gutters,” she said, but Abdul notes that critics view such rhetoric as potentially deflecting attention from internal party accountability.

The Global Voices feature also raises questions about press freedom, historical revisionism, and whether her leadership will break with the legacy of censorship and strongman politics that have plagued Suriname in the past.

As Abdul writes, Geerlings-Simons’ presidency is not just about shattering a glass ceiling, but about how power is wielded and who benefits. For young girls imagining their futures and for citizens wary of old political ghosts, her term will be a test of both symbolic and substantive change.

Whatever path the new president charts, her election has already expanded the realm of political possibility. As Abdul concludes: “Whether Geerlings-Simons’ election signifies a rebirth or a repetition depends entirely on how she wields the power with which she has been entrusted, and how she is held to account by the electorate that put her there.”

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