UWI gender studies head knocks covid19 recovery team composition

Head of UWI Institute for Gender and Development Studies Dr Gabrielle Hosein called for more balance in the team selected to help TT recover after the covid19 crisis.

Hosein, who is also a Newsday columnist, made the call after the Prime Minister announced the creation of a team of 22 people, of whom only three are women.

“Locally, we cannot plan for economic or social recovery without understanding how insecurity, unemployment, violence, and responsibility for care work in areas such teaching and nursing and in our homes, are being differently experienced by women and men.”

She suggested that Dr Rowley's team could have included better representation from a younger generation of experts, and more women.

“Only three women definitely sends the signal that women don't need to be at the table when our most important national decisions are being made, and lack of civil society and women's movement representation highlights the exclusion of women's interests despite the movement’s role in providing extensive front line care.

“The team needs to not make gender equality an after-thought if it is to effectively and inclusively imagine our country post-covid19.”