Gender experts: Violence costs women their jobs, productivity, financial security
Sunday 21 February 2021
A costumed woman holds signs demanding a national plan on gender-based violence during a march by Women in Carnival around Queen’s Park Savannah, Port of Spain last Monday. PHOTO BY AYANNA KINSALE -
A few days after the decomposing body of murdered law-clerk Andrea Bharatt was found down a precipice in the Heights of Aripo, a woman was held up and robbed by two men on the Aripo junction – an area that hours before had been teeming with police officers and soldiers. The woman, a Cepep worker who lives in Valencia, went to the junction to wait for transportation to go to Aripo village where she was assigned to work. After the attack, the traumatised woman was unable to report to work on that day.
Women in Carnival group demands laws to protect women
This midnight robber s message is loud and clear. - Ayanna Kinsale
In a strong message to legislators, the Women in Carnival Committee called for laws to protect women, a review of the criminal justice system, laws to monitor public transportation and justice for murdered women.
The group was formed almost two weeks ago by activist Sheena Tang Nian and five others after the kidnapping and murder of 23-year-old Andrea Bharatt. Its aim is to assist in the call for laws to protect women.
These women kneel at the Queen s Park Savannah on Monday as they call for an end to gender-based violence. - Ayanna Kinsale