Women of the JDF Celebrated – Jamaica Information Service

Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Most Hon. Juliet Holness has commended the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) for the role it has played in contributing to Jamaica’s falling crime rate.

Mrs. Holness highlighted the leadership skills of Chief of Defence Staff, Vice Admiral Antonette Wemyss Gorman, which, she said, has contributed to the crime reduction.

She noted that Vice Admiral Wemyss Gorman is one of the key players involved in strategically engineering the procedures and policies put in place to bring crime to the level it is at.

Jamaica has experienced a significant and sustained multi-year decline in violent crime, highlighted by a 43 per cent reduction in murders in 2025.

Murders also fell by eight per cent in 2023 and 19 per cent in 2024.

Addressing the JDF Gala Dinner celebrating 50 Years of Women in Service held at the AC Hotel in Kingston on Friday (August 14), Mrs. Holness also commended the other women of the Force who have broken barriers in a previously male dominated and driven career field.

“There is an entire national history contained in this story. It is a story of courage and opportunity, and women who went first so that others could go even further,” she said.

“I must say Jamaican women did not suddenly discover courage in 1976. Our history would object rather strongly to that proposition. Long before Independence, the figure of Nanny of the Maroons came to embody in our national story, the resilience, courage and resistance. Jamaican women have long been associated with leadership, organization and defence of their people,” she added.

She also pointed out that during a visit to Japan; Jamaica was praised for having the only woman in the world leading a national armed force.

“I must say that we are doing what we were called to do. [That is to] serve,” she said.