Conference sessions will be led by local, regional and international advocates for women’s rights. Organizations that will be represented include the Institute for Gender and Development Studies (UWI), Advocates for Safe Parenthood Improving Reproductive Equity (ASPIRE), Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on HIV/AIDS and Frontier Canada.
Notable speakers will include ASPIRE’s Chairman Lynette Seebaran-Suite, President of the New Jersey Bar Association Attorney Yvette Sterling and Director of the Environmental and Climate Justice Program at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Jacqueline Patterson.
Part of the Division of Health and Social Services’ agenda includes mainstreaming gender equality throughout the Divisions of the THA, as well as ending gender inequities in Tobago.
“I pay my respect to the many indigenous women of this area and others who, for many decades, have spoken out locally, nationally and on the international stage, for the rights of women and their communities,” Health Secretary Claudia Groome-Duke said during the weekly Post Executive Council.
“I must say that the findings to be presented at this conference will be very important to the future of both Tobago and Trinidad. Gender equality is something that matters to all of us – boys, girls, men, women, young, old, business, government and community. And as many of you know well, gender equality goes to the very heart of who we are and how we live,” she said.
Secretary Groome-Duke noted that women have made some progress toward eliminating gender discrimination and domestic violence, including having the right to vote and both domestic violence and sexual assault being recognised as crimes by the law.
The Global Center for Behavioural Health is a network of international professionals who collaborate with the global community, promoting quality and equity in healthcare and health education worldwide through the bilateral exchange of information and resources.
The conference will begin on March 25th at 6 p.m. with a welcome reception and continue daily through March 27th, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.