Women Everywhere hosts IWD events

THE global theme for International Women’s Day on March 8 is Each Person for Equality. Adeline Gregoire, founder of the non-profit, women’s organisation Women Everywhere, said her group’s week of activities will centre around the theme Equality Now, inspired by the global theme.

Gregoire said the theme was changed to give a greater sense of urgency to the call for equality, and discussions at planned events will centre around this.

“We’ll talk about what's tolerated, what is accepted, whether based on your gender, whether based on your sex, whether you're male, female, non-binary, whether you're part of what we like to call minorities but are not really – and these are just different groups that we need to get on board with. We need to get with the programme and accept that there's diversity in any society.

"What I really want people to understand or take away about this week ,and especially International Women's Day 2020, is that women's rights are human rights. These questions of equality, for example, they're not minor matters: these are the building blocks of healthy, progressive and resilient societies.

"The second takeaway that I really want people to get is that there is power in community.”

She said other themes to be explored were personal and collective responsibility, collaboration and community.

“Women Everywhere’s focus is empowerment and encouraging women to really speak out with the power we have.

"Women occupy such a central role in TT in particular, and in the Caribbean and the world, but somehow, we are timid in the area of really speaking out and standing up. The idea of not being able to do this work alone comes to mind, and I particularly want to stress the fact that we need more and more women looking out for each other, and really doing what we need to, to ensure that we're not kicking ladders down so that other women can't climb up. How are we paving the way for future generations, what systems are we putting in place that we didn't have necessarily?”

Women Everywhere will host and co-host a series of events beginning on March 7. Gregoire said the group will join forces with other women’s organisations for the fourth annual Women’s Rights Rally and March at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port of Spain, from 2pm-5.30 pm.

“On March 8, International Women’s Day, we’ll be meeting at the LOFTT Gallery, Rosalino Street, Woodbrook, Port of Spain, for our inspirational Boss Lady Talks, including one by chairman of the Equal Opportunity Commission Lynette Seebaran Suite, as well as our We Talk panel discussion.

"On March 10, we’ll be in San Fernando, where we’ll have a We Talk panel and keynote speaker, as well as schools outreach, and on March 11, we’ll be collaborating with the Alliance Française for Films for Feminism."

The final event on March 12 is titled Her Stories, an evening of literature, poetry and spoken word, from 5 pm-8pm at the Bocas Lit Fest Writer's Centre on Alcazar Street, Port of Spain.

Gregoire said, "We’ll be exploring what is taboo and sensitive in the question of femininity, things that we don't talk about, motherhood, sexual fulfilment, sexuality and sexualities, how free are we as women in 2020, what does equality look like when we start talking about sex? We’ll end the evening with a discussion with Onika Henry, a human sexuality consultant and sex coach who’ll be coming in from Tobago.”

For more info: find Women Everywhere on Facebook and Instagram or http://women-everywhere.com.