Activists ask women to stay home on Friday

A new activist group is calling on women to stay home from work on Friday, the day of Andrea Bharatt’s funeral, as a protest against violence against women.

Samantha Juman and her mother Nadia Juman, organisers of the stay-at-home strike, spoke to Newsday on Wednesday. Following in the footsteps of similar strike action in Mexico, which saw its first national women’s strike in March2020, they said a day without women working in various industries would cripple the workforce.

“This is a message to show the government of the power of women’s knowledge,” said Samantha. “A woman’s knowledge and skill are important and we can show that by not showing up.”

Nadia said the idea came after they took part in a march around the Queen’s Park Savannah on Sunday. The march was organised to the death of 23-year-old Andrea Bharatt.

Bharatt’s body was found in the Heights of Aripo on February 4.

The women said although they have never led a protest like this before, they felt the need to get the government’s attention to make effective change.

“We walked around (the Savannah) on Sunday; we talked to people. You can see the grief on people’s face,” said Nadia. “We’re fed up of marching and we were standing next to people with all this passion and conviction.”

She said she and her daughter felt a stay-at-home strike might be more effective.

“We thought this might be another turning point to get the government’s attention…especially now, during covid19, where they don’t want mass gatherings.”

The women created an event page on Facebook which has garnered some interest in the past two days, with just over 900 women interested in participating and nearly 300 agreeing to do so.Samantha said she has also been in contact with teachers who are willing to sign out of virtual classes on Friday in support.

She said data from the World Bank showed 43 per cent of the Trinidad and Tobago workforce are women, most of whom use public transport.

“If women don’t feel safe going to work and dropping their kids off to school, we’re saying stay home,” said Nadia. “The average person cannot afford PinkCab or Ride Share.”

The group is also making three demands: safer transport for women and children; no bail for sex offenders; and approval of the national strategic action plan to end gender-based violence.

A statement by the group said “Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi has publicly stated that efforts to regulate the public transportation system, including PH (Private Hire) taxis, are in progress and involve requiring that every number plate will have a radio frequency tag.

“We fully support this initiative and are holding him and the government accountable to implement and enforce this in a timely manner.”

Samantha said while she hopes people participate, if the initiative is not successful she will be happy she tried.

“I can’t just sit down and do nothing.”

She said she realises that not all women can afford to stay away from work, but is asking those who can to participate, not just in support of those who have lost their lives to violence, but for those who do not have the job security to go on strike themselves.