When the Mirabal sisters – Minerva, Patricia and Maria Teresa- took up the cause of justice in the 1950s in their native Dominican Republic, they had no idea that they would be the catalyst for a wider international movement for social justice. Their activism against the corrupt and unjust regime of Dictator Rafael Trujillo (1930-1961) [...]
This year will mark the 100th anniversary of the declaration of March 8 as International Women’s Day. It is a day of great significance on women’s socio-political almanac. Today, to highlight this political event, women the world over are involved in many and varied activities to celebrate their achievements and to honour all those women, [...]
Women activists and feminists have pointed to the way in which women are and have been treated before the courts for criminal offences. In her feminist analysis of the criminal trial process in Canada, and which has relevance for the Caribbean, Marguerite Russell examines various aspects of the criminal justice system. She specifically highlights the [...]
It is not uncommon for the criminal justice system in the Caribbean to be questioned. Too often we hear that there is one law for the rich and one for the poor, one law for whites and browns and one for blacks, one law for men and none for women. This thinking results from the [...]
The issue of human rights and peace is being highlighted now more than ever. This is so because the world is in turmoil and peace is elusive. Every day, the news media bring to us incidences and situations in which the rights of women, men and children and of whole nations are constantly being violated [...]
In this essay, we argue that religion, in the Caribbean and Latin America embodies what we term ‘gender ideology’ which, in our discussion, would embody the dialectical contradictions, the unity of opposites, expressed in moments of patriarchal dominance and feminism and women’s liberation. Here, ideology is understood as a system of beliefs, symbols, myths, rituals [...]
It has often been argued that religion is a repressive force in women’s lives, and religious texts advise on and justify the inferiority and subordination of women in societies across the globe. Foundations for freedom from religion as well as some feminists and women’s activists all hold the view that organised religion is the greatest [...]
The history of women is one of repeated injuries against this social group, which has been campaigning for ages for a just social order based on the abolition of discriminatory practices against them and in favour of their male counterparts. At the first international conference on the rights of women held in July1848 in the [...]
Many countries in the Caribbean and Latin America have achieved significant growth over the years, Chile, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and Brazil, to name a few, but these countries have not been able to solve their problem of poverty. According to an ECLAC report, the Caribbean and Latin American region had an overall economic growth [...]
Poverty in the ‘Third World’ is not a 20th Century phenomenon. It is an age old socio-economic and political issue which has its roots in colonialism, slavery and dependent capitalism which, by its very nature, creates social inequalities and a situation of social injustice, marginalizing particular social groups and social classes. Oft times, poverty, defined [...]