HOW TO BUILD A MOVEMENT

A Strategic Approach to addressing the issue of Violence Against Women in the Caribbean

Simone LeidFounder – The WomenSpeak Project

http://womenspeak.tumblr.com

THE CARIBBEAN REGION

The Region

• Caribbean region has population of over 35 million.

• Largest Caribbean nations (Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico) are spanish speaking.

• Largest English-Speaking island is Jamaica with a population of over 3 million.

• The Smallest islands have populations of less than 100 000.

The Anglo-Caribbean

• Population comprises mostly people of African Descent

• Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana (continental Caribbean) have large numbers of Indian descended people

• Small numbers of European, Chinese, Syrian/Lebanese descended people throughout the islands.

Overview of VAW in the Anglo-Caribbean

• Trinidad and Tobago - Deaths from cases of domestic violence have quadrupled over a five-year period from 2004 to 2008

• Barbados – half of all murders in 2011 were the result of domestic violence

• St. Kitts – 24% of court cases are for sexual offenses (2010)

• Three of the top ten recorded rape rates in the world are in the Caribbean. (2007)

Several Governmental and Non-Governmental Agencies have been working on ending VAW for years.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• LAWS ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE STRENGHTED

• CREATION OF GOV’T DEPARTMENTS DEALING WITH WOMEN’S AND GENDER AFFAIRS

• RATIFICATION OF INTERNATIONAL TREATIES ON VAW

• INCREASED NUMBER OF NGO NETWORKS ACROSS REGION DEALING WITH VAW

But incidents of rape, domestic violence and murder of women

continue unabated

BUT WHY?

HOW COME?

Social and Cultural beliefs and

attitudes that perpetuate the tacit acceptance of violence against

women are INGRAINED

For real change to occur we need to reach the minds and hearts of

the general population

We need to challenge the gender conditioning and

gender stereotyping which allows discrimination against women to

continue.

But often the manner in which we receive information about VAW can

make us feel overwhelmed

“WOMAN SET ON FIRE After quarrel over money with lover.."

“ MOTHER OF SEVEN BRUTALLY CHOPPED TO DEATH ”

“No bail for three charged with rape of mom, daughter”

Man gets HIV from wife. Kills her. Gets 25 years

Six year old girl found murdered

“…between January and April 2011, there were 161 reported cases of incest, rape and sexual offences against children

Instead of being inspired to act people retreat and become disconnected

and desensitizedVAW

STATISTICS NEWSAPAPER HEADLINES

So how do you get people to engage with the issue of VAW

?

You help people see how VAW affects them on a personal level

And you help them find simple ways in which they feel they can

contribute to change

You create a

MOVEMENT

To create a Movement you need a critical mass

of people who share a common vision

and are willing to take action

to create change

Key Elements for Building a Movement

CONSCIOUSNESS RAISING&

PARTICIPATION

THE WOMENSPEAK PROJECT

An online forum that encourages Caribbean women to tell their

stories of discrimination - in the home, at work and in the public

domain

THE STRATEGY

Consciousness Raising

Involving women in the process of identifying how discrimination affects their

everyday lives

THE STRATEGY

Consciousness Raising

Educating about gender discrimination gives people the

tools to discourse and analyze the issues

THE STRATEGY

Participation

Allow people to contribute their own analysis to the discourse on discrimination against women

THE STRATEGY

Participation

Give people the opportunity to share information, dialogue, and

explore the issues

CHALLENGES

HOW TO KEEP PEOPLE ENGAGED?

Continued ENGAGEMENT requires a great investment of

Time and Creativity

You need to build RELATIONSHIPS

And constantly seek out new and interesting ways to get people to

PARTICIPATE

BUILDING CROSS-SCALE NETWORKS

is essential to enable you to reach those outside your circle of influence

TO BUILD CROSS-SCALE NETWORKS

Collaborate on projects with other interest groups

ARTISTS / UNIONS / COMPANIES

Changing attitudes and beliefs takes a long time.

But without adequate Resources and Relationships your Movement

will become stagnant and die.

A bit of Advice?

It only takes one person to start a Movement but it takes consistent

input from various people to nurture and sustain it

You can’t do it alone.

You need ALLIES who are as committed as you are to the cause

Thank You.