International Women’s Day

Recently I saw a film on how Caribbean women see themselves by Jada Lee Condappa-Lewis. Her film presentation was entitled, Other Angels. I am not sure how one can access this film. However, Stacy Parris’ poem echoes the sentiments of Other Angels[i] Ironically many parts of the world are celebrating carnival. A major preparation many women attempt is to bend their bodies into stereotypical standards so as to pass the gaze of many hungry eyes on the carnival auction blocks. Many factors may contribute to this need to conform to gender roles expectations. Unfortunately, many women also fall victims to these gender roles demands. Yes we have many women who have broken many glass ceilings in their way. Many women have excelled beyond compare and patriarchal expectations yet still many more are victims of all kinds of gender abuse and violence. What are we celebrating this day of International Women’s Day? Hear the concerns expressed by a student of UWI[ii] Amilcar Presi Sanatan   

‎            100 Years of International Women's Day :) equally both women and men should celebrate this occasion. Together, we must work to bring about pragmatic and systematic implementation of national women empowerment programmes. Also, as a man, this is a call for an end to our discriminatory attitudes that may subjugate women, from the way we interact with each other physically and understand person’s sense of space, to co-operation in the work places, societal expectations, all the way to inclusive language.[iii]   Therefore let this celebration of International Women’s Day drew us closer as one human family where the concerns of one will be the concerns of all. Let us see this day as a day for all of us to reflect and celebrate. While there is good reason to celebrate, the fact that one woman is still being beaten, or raped, over worked and under paid, denied certain rights, killed, etc., is a serious cause for reflection and transformation through the efforts of both men and women. Only then will our cause for marking this celebration will be complete. Please do have a reflective International Women’s Day and work in your own little corner to transform gender attitudes.    we interact with eachother physically and understand persons sense of space, to co-operation in the work places, societal expectations, all the way to inclusive language.

This song is for the woman who has sacrificed to give birth to every possiblity of my life and generations of my lineage to come. I love you mummy - in High Tide or Low Tide. [i] Parris, Stacy, pheonixlyrisis300, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqFPvG-OiE8&feature=player_embedded, [Copied 8th march 2011 youtube online]

[ii]The University of the West Indies St. Augustine Trinidad and Tobago

[iii] http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10150426057200608&id=839535607#!/, [Copied  8th March 2011, Face Book on line]

March is declared International Women’s Month. To mark this period of observation we will celebrate by acknowledging a woman from academia, from non profit organisation, and from very ordinary life. The Muslims have a saying that, “No nation can rise higher that its women”. Certainly, this is true because women are the crucial transmitters of a society’s values, and most certainly the patriarchal system much to the benefit of men and boys by way of securing the privilege men and boys enjoy just for being male.

In light of this one can recognise the many ways women have moved forward to challenge the gender status co. What many women and girls enjoy now such as being able to go to school not to focus on skills to maintain their men by cooking, sewing, etc., but to take classes in any area of study even from those outside the traditional gender specific pool. Women are pursuing studies in the universities at a rate never experienced before. Women are out in the public sphere working for their money.  The achievements of women are, as a result largely due, to the efforts of women on all fronts; race, class, ethnicity, etc.

One such woman who has contributed both in academics and activism for the advancement of women is Professor Rhoda Reddock Vice Principal of the University of the West Indies St. Augustine and founding member of the Institute for Gender and Development Studies:

Professor Rhoda Reddock

Professor Rhoda Reddock, national of Trinidad and Tobago and esteemed scholar of the Caribbean Community, is the seventh outstanding woman from the Caribbean Community to receive the CARICOM Triennial Award for Women.

Attaining a Doctorate in Applied Sociology in 1984 at the University of Amsterdam, she served as a Research Fellow and Associate Lecturer at the Institute of Social Studies at The Hague before returning to the Region in 1985, where she was appointed Lecturer, then Senior Lecturer at the University of the West Indies at St. Augustine.

Professor Reddock has distinguished herself as an academic, administrator, and international consultant, who has dedicated her scholarship and teaching to women and development in the Caribbean Community and has been unstinting in her promotion of Gender and Development Studies as an important discipline in its own right. The pursuit of this cause has been arduous and she has been assiduous in her advocacy in support of the development of regional programmes in Women and Development Studies.


Professor Reddock’s advocacy in this area emerged at the Institute of Development Studies at the Hague in the early 1980s where she was instrumental in the development of the Master’s Degree specialisation in Women and Development which, at that time, was one of the first of its kind in the world. She later championed the cause in the Caribbean Community where she played a major role in the conceptualisation and introduction of Women and Development Studies at the University of the West Indies. This effort contributed significantly to the establishment in 1993 of a Centre for Gender and Development Studies. Professor Reddock’s professional, academic and administrative expertises were rewarded in 1994 when she was appointed the first Head of the Centre for Gender and Development Studies at the St. Augustine Campus.

As a leading authority on development issues especially as it impacts on women, she has authored numerous publications and is best known for her work ‘Women, Labour and Politics in Trinidad and Tobago: a History’ which has been named by Choice Magazine as the Best Academic Book for the year in which it was published. This book and her other publications on Women’s History have gained regional and international recognition and acclaim.

Professor Reddock has served and continues to serve with distinction in numerous international, regional and national Organisations, such as, the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Food of Agricultural Organisation (FAO), the Commonwealth Secretariat, the European Union, Stitching HIVOS, the Inter-American Co-operation in Agriculture (IICA), the Government of Trinidad and Tobago and academic institutions throughout the world.

Professor Reddock’s involvement in CARICOM’s preparation of the Fourth World Conference on Women contributed, in significant measure, to the highly acclaimed success of the Region’s efforts in this area.

In paying tribute to the outstanding contribution of this year’s awardee, one must refer to the fact that Professor Reddock has been an inspiration and mentor to the younger generation of Caribbean feminists.

In espousing the cause of women and development, she has pursued this interest with rigorous scholarship and so distinguished herself that in 2001 she was presented with the University of the West Indies’ Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, Administration, Research and Public Service.

http://www.caricom.org/jsp/projects/personalities/rhoda_reddock.jsp?menu=projects, [Copied 1st March 2011, 2009 Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat. online]