THE Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action Trinidad and Tobago (CAFRA TT) has congratulated its member Gaietry Pargass for being awarded the Medal for the Development of Women (Gold) at the recent national awards 2021 ceremony at President's House.
In a press release, it said the country owes Pargass a debt of gratitude for her "path-breaking contributions to women’s and children’s rights over the past 40 years."
Pargass, it said, grew up in Orange Field, central Trinidad, and studied agriculture at UWI, and it was her interactions with women farmers and rural women as a young agricultural officer at the Crop Research Station in Centeno which kindled an early social consciousness of the plight of women.
This led her to study law and human rights, which strengthened her activism with feminist organisations, her commitment to public education and training, her legislative and policy work with government, and her consultancy work with regional and international agencies.
The CAFRA release pointed out that Pargass was a founding and/or active member of three feminist organisations which have shaped and informed the struggle for women’s rights and gender equality in this country and the Caribbean over the past four decades.
The Concerned Women for Progress (CWP), founded in 1980, was the first "second-wave" feminist organisation in the country that fought for women’s rights as workers, and lobbied for laws to address rape, incest and other forms of gender-based violence.
Pargass has also been an active member of CAFRFA TT since its founding in 1985.
In 1988, she co-ordinated the ILSA/CAFRA regional survey of legal services available to women in the Caribbean, as part of a Latin American and Caribbean study. This led to the development of CAFRA’s regional projects on Women’s Rights and the Law, and Gender and Human Rights.
As a human-rights lawyer, Pargass contributed pro bono to CAFRA’s advocacy, public awareness-raising and community interventions on issues including violence against women and children; and gender, human rights and the law.
Pargass was appointed legal adviser in the Ministry of Social Development from 1991–1996. On returning to government after years of teaching and consultancy work, she was appointed legal consultant in the Ministry of Gender, Youth and Child Development in 2012, a position she also held in the Office of the Prime Minister (Gender and Child Affairs).
Since 2017, she has been a senior legal adviser.
In these capacities, Pargass brought to bear her knowledge and understanding of feminist issues from her activism at the national, regional and international levels.
Her technical support to government ministers and senior officials, among others, has contributed to the development of key laws and policies on women’s rights, gender equality, gender-based violence, and children’s rights and protection.
Pargass has also served on various Cabinet-appointed and inter-ministerial committees tasked with addressing gender equality, child development and
