by Kimani Kimani Torres, GrenCHAP
Since the beginning of time, women have demonstrated their strength, resilience and overall ability to thrive in any environment. From the likes of Susan B Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Eleanor Roosevelt and modern-day Kamala Harris, we have proven that we can both fight for what we believe in and hold some of the highest professional positions in the world. We continue to be trailblazers, breaking barriers and challenging the patriarchy.
Despite the many advances we have made, we remain marginalized and our talents undermined. Authoritative figures have this prehistoric notion that a woman’s place is in the house to be child-bearers and homemakers. Though we have chosen to educate ourselves, often balancing domestic and professional lives, we are still being paid less than men who hold the very same position and overlooked for qualified advancement solely because of our gender.
The pandemic has resulted in the loss of many jobs, forcing our women back into the domestic shell. There has also been an influx of gender-based violence cases as women are now trapped with abusive partners and no support from family and friends. Shelters and support centres have also closed leaving us to endure a nightmare within a nightmare.
The world may have shut down, but the work does not cease. We must find creative solutions to keep protecting and empowering our women during and after the pandemic. We need to lobby for female-focused funding to create and maintain safe spaces for the vulnerable and push for gender parity across the board. Despite the many challenges that we have faced, we continue to be the voice of social change; fighting for fundamental fights, determined to make a difference.
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How about you call out the “man” currently in charge of your country for all the missing MILLIONS of dollars that were to support women, not just his cronies, for the covid situation? How about you get some bad ass, super smart, incorruptible WOMAN to be in charge of Grenada, who is NOT greedy for personal self, who is AWARE of ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS as this beautiful little island is destroyed by one ugly, hotel development after another at the cost of your coastlines and water, and land and the very attraction that brought many of us to Grenada in the first place. Do not choose a woman however who will go around trying to persuade and influence locals who own the land along Grand Anse Beach to sell to the Egyptian who already owns too much land on Grenada.
Did you know that in Indonesia NO FOREIGNER may own the land? You can invest but not own the land. You are turning over the power and the best interests of all the wonderful people on Grenada to these foreign concerns who frankly DON’T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT GRENADA!! When will you all realize that this kind of mega concrete crap IS NOT the reason tourists travel thousands of miles to visit you and learn about your culture, music, food and nature. We don’t want to see concrete we want, clean water, rainforest, your crafts and products NOT Chinese crap, or chinese street signs or thousands of chinese instead of natural Grenadian. We want to see you respect the envrionment like the turtles at Levera, the long lost doves at Mount Harman, God help us , what has happened to La Sagesse. Your bleeping government sees nature and seeks DESTRUCTION every time.
The biggest selling point for tourists was that we would experience TRUE CARIBBEAN LIFE because you were not over developed like Barbados which is just concrete. They have killed off the last piece of old growth forest, nothing left. You complain about the weather, huge boulders falling, poor crop conditions that is because you are continually destroying the very forest that protects you and especially the Mangroves that are gone. Mangroves DO NOT REPLANT, this has been proven by other projects on the island and worldwide. Step out of your ignorant bubble and see what is happening around you. Get rid of greedy short sighted men running your company. They DO NOT have anyone but themselves in mind when they move through life. Too much corruption.