TT has its own part to play in its resistance and advocacy around gender issues and norms, and the newly formed Caribbean Gender Alliance (CGA) has started the ball rolling during this year’s 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence.
Started in 1991, 16 Days of Activism, which is supported by the UN, is an annual international campaign that begins on November 25 – the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women – and ends on Human Rights Day on December 10.
A UN Women press release said a new study by UN Office on Drugs and Crime and UN Women showed that, in 2021, more than five women or girls were killed every hour by someone in their own family.
In fact, 56 per cent of the women killed in 2021 (45,000 out of 81,000), were killed by intimate partners or other family members, showing that “home” was not a safe place for many women and girls. In comparison, 11 per cent of all male homicides were perpetrated in the private sphere.
“Even though these numbers are alarmingly high, the true scale of femicide may be much higher. Too many victims of femicide still go uncounted given inconsistencies in definitions and criteria amongst countries, for roughly four in ten women and girls killed intentionally in 2021, there is not enough information to identify them as femicide, especially for those killings happening in the public sphere.”
CGA chair Nadella Oya told WMN the organisation is not about creating a campaign that spoke about the number of women being killed, but about giving people practical tools to deal with issues.
The campaign includes 21 videos, info graphics, mentorship programmes, a march which took place on Friday, social media posts, art exhibitions, auctions, contests, and other discussions where people can learn about ways to advocate.
[caption id="attachment_987803" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Nadella Oya, chair of the Caribbean Gender Alliance (right) with her son and create.future.good youth advocate, Cuba Riley, at the CGA We Remember public march at Memorial Park, Port of Spain on November 25. Photo courtesy Nadella Oya. -[/caption]
It addresses topics such as incest, mental health, student suspension, how to handle unwanted sexual advances, and non-violent techniques to address domestic violence in adulthood including self-regulation, conflict resolution, and de-escalating a situation.
And because men and boys can also be victims, there are videos in its Word of the Day series addressing the concept of masculinity and intimate-partner relationships.
Oya, who is also the founder and director of the children’s NGO create.future.good of “Good Touch, Bad Touch” fame, explained how CGA came to be.
She said before covid19, civil, business and other organisations, including create.future.good, were doing their own activities for 16 Days of Activism, so there was a glut of online activities in 2020.
“Because of our methodology, we always work with the people who are affected to figure out what the issues are that they are experiencing, what they th
