Cudjoe: More needs to be done for women

Minister of Sport and Community Development Shamfa Cudjoe says that while she can acknowledge the efforts being made to help and empower women, more work still needs to be done to help them progress to their rightful place in society.

“We have to review and reassess on how we provide for women.”

Cudjoe was speaking at the Banker’s Association of TT (BATT) and Flow’s International Women’s Day reception at the Hyatt Regency, Port of Spain on Tuesday. This year’s theme is Embracing Equity.

She said some of the issues that women would have faced last year may not be as urgent this year since more issues could have emerged since then. She said the issue that stood out the most was the treatment of women on social media.

“What these young women face now in school is so different than what we faced and had to fight against as youngsters.”

Cudjoe said mothers could be trying to guide their daughters into a positive directions, but they still had to contend with peers at school and those on social media. She even recalled her own experience from earlier that day.

She said, “A woman messaged me this morning. A big woman. I had to check to see if it was a fake profile or real. And when I checked, it was real person. She said something nasty to me. But there are people that are just unhappy.”

Amilcar Sanatan assistant director of gender affairs at the Gender and Child Affairs Division said a point of concern for that ministry was the effects of social media. He spoke of the psychological, social and economical and the new forms of gender-based violence such as revenge porn, cyberbullying and harassment.

Also speaking at the reception was president of BATT and managing director of RBC Royal Bank Richard Downie. He acknowledged that the banking industry was a female-dominated industry and many of its managers had been women.

Cudjoe also recalled her time working as a teller at Scotiabank after leaving secondary school and said she always looked up to the women in management. She said it was also the only industry at the time that had women in managerial positions.

Now, Cudjoe said, she faces instances where she is the only woman on a panel or may have to fight to contribute more than just an opening or greeting at a function.

She added, “I’ve been to a conference in 2019 and there was a group of people having a chitchat before the conference. They told me that they were waiting for the minister and I said, ‘But I am the minister.’”