World AIDS Day Twitter Chat with SRHR Adventures

We’re looking forward to chatting with SRHR Adventures with Dr.Pat on Twitter, December 1st at 10am (11am in Guyana). We’re talking about #SexEd programs, condom availability and use, safe sex practices for people of all genders and sexual orientations, and getting zero.

Women’s Wednesdays: Women in Leadership

More Bahamian women have been assuming leadership positions in the past few years, going beyond traditional expectations and limitations. It must be acknowledged that there are still many barriers facing women leaders today, and this raises questions for us as women leaders and the women they represent.

What does it mean, in The Bahamas of 2018, to lead?
What are the differences between leadership, management, and representation? When do we need each?
What are the tools for effective leadership, especially in the face of challenges?
How can we bridge the gender gap in Parliament?
How can we balance work with self-care?
What do we need from our women leaders, and what do they need from us, in order to build the world we want?
How can we support each other more as women?
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Women’s Wednesdays was founded by Equality Bahamas as a response to community members’ requests for a space to access resources, experts, and practitioners, share knowledge, and engage in conversation with one another. Officially started in May 2017, Women’s Wednesdays highlights Bahamian women and our experiences in The Bahamas, specific to our identities including gender, race, sexuality, age, and ability. Held once per month at minimum, the events draw women together to have conversations that bring our individual lives into focus while connecting to family, community, and national narratives.

#WW242 intentionally centers and prioritizes women and girls, and is open to the public through in-person events, livestreams, and social media activity. With the support of the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, we create a safe space for knowledge-building, idea-sharing, critical dialogue, and movement-building.
Inspired by Equality Bahamas’ Women’s Wednesdays, there is now a similar initiative in Guyana, and other countries in the Caribbean are expected to follow.

Women’s Wednesdays: Women in Bahamian History

Knowledge about the past is key to understanding where we are now and why. We need this information to create the feminist world/ future we need. What work have Bahamian women already done, and how did they do it? Is it included in the written accounts of history? What can we learn from the work of Bahamian women in the past? How do we ensure that the work we are doing now is recorded and shared for the benefit of those who come after us? We will be joined by local historians and storytellers who will add their thoughts to the discussion. See you there!
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Women’s Wednesdays was founded by Equality Bahamas as a response to community members’ requests for a space to access resources, experts, and practitioners, share knowledge, and engage in conversation with one another. Officially started in May 2017, Women’s Wednesdays highlights Bahamian women and our experiences in The Bahamas, specific to our identities including gender, race, sexuality, age, and ability. Held once per month at minimum, the events draw women together to have conversations that bring our individual lives into focus while connecting to family, community, and national narratives.

#WW242 intentionally centers and prioritizes women and girls, and is open to the public through in-person events, livestreams, and social media activity. With the support of the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, we create a safe space for knowledge-building, idea-sharing, critical dialogue, and movement-building.

Inspired by Equality Bahamas’ Women’s Wednesdays, there is now a similar initiative in Guyana, and other countries in the Caribbean are expected to follow.

Women’s Wednesdays: Women’s Rights and LGBT+ Rights

The Referendum of 2016 proposed four constitutional Bills. Bill #4 sought to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, which could have paved the way for improved legal rights for the LGBT+ community. The bill incited highly publicized displays of homophobia. There were voters who considered themselves in favor of women’s rights, but against Bill 4.

These events raise important questions:
-What are the intersections between women’s rights and LGBT+ rights?
-What are the institutional and cultural barriers to achieving equal rights for LGBT+ Bahamians?
-What can we learn from regional LGBT+ movements in the Caribbean?
-What does it mean to be an effective ally to the LGBT+ community?

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Women’s Wednesdays was founded by Equality Bahamas as a response to community members’ requests for a space to access resources, experts, and practitioners, share knowledge, and engage in conversation with one another. Officially started in May 2017, Women’s Wednesdays highlights Bahamian women and our experiences in The Bahamas, specific to our identities including gender, race, sexuality, age, and ability. Held once per month at minimum, the events draw women together to have conversations that bring our individual lives into focus while connecting to family, community, and national narratives.

#WW242 intentionally centers and prioritizes women and girls, and is open to the public through in-person events, livestreams, and social media activity. With the support of the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, we create a safe space for knowledge-building, idea-sharing, critical dialogue, and movement-building.

Inspired by Equality Bahamas’ Women’s Wednesdays, there is now a similar initiative in Guyana, and other countries in the Caribbean are expected to follow.

Women’s Wednesdays: Changing the Way We Talk About Sex

Events
From proposals to sterilize women on the election campaign stage to public shaming of young black women on the frontlines of white-owned businesses, sexuality and the right to bear children are under attack. The rules seem to be different for women — black women, poor women, unmarried women. We need time and space to talk about the “issues” raised, largely by men, where our bodies are concerned. Join us for a conversation about sex. Who gets to have it? With whom? For what purpose? What policies, systems, and services exist to support our choices? What do we need to create for ourselves?

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Women’s Wednesdays was founded by Equality Bahamas as a response to community members’ requests for a space to access resources, experts, and practitioners, share knowledge, and engage in conversation with one another. Officially started in May 2017, Women’s Wednesdays highlights Bahamian women and our experiences in The Bahamas, specific to our identities including gender, race, sexuality, age, and ability. Held once per month at minimum, the events draw women together to have conversations that bring our individual lives into focus while connecting to family, community, and national narratives.

#WW242 intentionally centers and prioritizes women and girls, and is open to the public through in-person events, livestreams, and social media activity. With the support of the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, we create a safe space for knowledge-building, idea-sharing, critical dialogue, and movement-building.

Inspired by Equality Bahamas’ Women’s Wednesdays, there is now a similar initiative in Guyana, and other countries in the Caribbean are expected to follow.

Women’s Wednesdays: Self-Care Workshop

May is Mental Health Awareness Month — a great time to talk about self-care. We hear it all the time. “Please put on your oxygen mask before assisting others.” We really do need to prioritize ourselves, and that means forming new habits. How much time do we spend taking care of other people? Compare that with the time we spend taking care of ourselves. What is the difference, and why does it exist? We’re busy, people depend on us, and there is only so much time in the day, but we can’t pour from an empty cup.

Join us for a conversation about self-care, and work with us to develop strategies for effective, intentional self-care that is part of our daily routines. How do we talk to and about ourselves? How do we recognize when we need help, and who do we ask for it? How does the way we treat ourselves compare with the way we treat other people we love? How do we engage our family members and friends in these conversations? How can we talk about it at work? In this workshop, we will each have time for self-reflection to assess where we are now, hear from Carla Moore of MooreTalkJa about her own experiences and her self-care-themed videos and writing, brainstorm self-care methods that fit our lives, and commit to a personalized self-care plan.

During our time together, we’ll consider:
– What is self-care? Why is it necessary?
– What does self-care look like?
– What techniques and practices can we use to meet the specific needs of the mind, body, and soul?
– How can we support one another in our self-care journeys?
– How can we take care of ourselves without spending a lot of money?
– What opportunities exist for us to make self-care an ongoing conversation and supported practice in our homes, offices, schools, clubs, places of worship, and other communities?

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Women’s Wednesdays was founded by Equality Bahamas as a response to community members’ requests for a space to access resources, experts, and practitioners, share knowledge, and engage in conversation with one another. Officially started in May 2017, Women’s Wednesdays highlights Bahamian women and our experiences in The Bahamas, specific to our identities including gender, race, sexuality, age, and ability. Held once per month at minimum, the events draw women together to have conversations that bring our individual lives into focus while connecting to family, community, and national narratives.

#WW242 intentionally centers and prioritizes women and girls, and is open to the public through in-person events, livestreams, and social media activity. With the support of the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, we create a safe space for knowledge-building, idea-sharing, critical dialogue, and movement-building.

Inspired by Equality Bahamas’ Women’s Wednesdays, there is now a similar initiative in Guyana, and other countries in the Caribbean are expected to follow.

Women’s Wednesdays: Womanish Ways Film Screening

Five women – Mary Ingraham, Mabel Walker, Georgiana Symonette, Eugenia Lockhart and Doris Johnson – led the Women’s Suffrage Movement and fought for the enfranchisement of all Bahamian women. “Freedom, Womanish Ways & Democracy” explores the story of the Women’s Suffrage Movement. Join us at the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas to learn about the Women’s Suffrage Movement in The Bahamas, celebrate the successful fight for enfranchisement of Bahamian women, and engage with Director and Producer Marion Bethel.

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Women’s Wednesdays was founded by Equality Bahamas as a response to community members’ requests for a space to access resources, experts, and practitioners, share knowledge, and engage in conversation with one another. Officially started in May 2017, Women’s Wednesdays highlights Bahamian women and our experiences in The Bahamas, specific to our identities including gender, race, sexuality, age, and ability. Held once per month at minimum, the events draw women together to have conversations that bring our individual lives into focus while connecting to family, community, and national narratives.

#WW242 intentionally centers and prioritizes women and girls, and is open to the public through in-person events, livestreams, and social media activity. With the support of the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, we create a safe space for knowledge-building, idea-sharing, critical dialogue, and movement-building.

Inspired by Equality Bahamas’ Women’s Wednesdays, there is now a similar initiative in Guyana, and other countries in the Caribbean are expected to follow.

Women’s Wednesdays: #SAAM – Conversations for Change

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and April 8-14, 2018 is International Anti-Street Harassment Week. Join us for a conversation about the spectrum of sexual violence, and strategies for effective conversations that lead to legislative and societal change. How do we talk with and about each other? How do we engage our family members in these conversations? Do we talk about it at work? What are the key elements of a conversation that sparks change? We’ll begin with story-sharing and statistics, highlight movements and actions that served as pivot points, assess where we are today, and talk about what we still need to do to end sexual violence.

Our conversation will be guided by these questions:
– What is sexual violence?
– How do we talk to children about sexual violence?
– How do protections differ in the home, school, workplace, and street?
– What does bystander intervention look like?
– Who do we need on our team to work to end sexual violence?
– What opportunities exist for having conversations and developing strategies for change?
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Women’s Wednesdays was founded by Equality Bahamas as a response to community members’ requests for a space to access resources, experts, and practitioners, share knowledge, and engage in conversation with one another. Officially started in May 2017, Women’s Wednesdays highlights Bahamian women and our experiences in The Bahamas, specific to our identities including gender, race, sexuality, age, and ability. Held once per month at minimum, the events draw women together to have conversations that bring our individual lives into focus while connecting to family, community, and national narratives.
#WW242 intentionally centers and prioritizes women and girls, and is open to the public through in-person events, livestreams, and social media activity. With the support of the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, we create a safe space for knowledge-building, idea-sharing, critical dialogue, and movement-building.
Inspired by Equality Bahamas’ Women’s Wednesdays, there is now a similar initiative in Guyana, and other countries in the Caribbean are expected to follow.

Women’s Wednesdays: Women in Business

Thinking about starting a business? Have a side-hustle you want to make your main gig? Looking for an option for passive income? Joined by Gail Hanna, Odaz Lightbourne Beneby, and Candis Marshall, we’re going beyond the typical everyone-should-have-a-business conversation. Women have unique experiences of family, friendship, and work, and women in The Bahamas have particular opportunities and challenges. We’ll consider all of these in our discussion about business, start-up and beyond, work-life balance, and community support.

Our conversation will be guided by these questions:
– What needs to be in the businesswoman’s toolkit?
– How do we know our skill or talent lends itself to a business? Is there a checklist?
– Who do we need in our corner as we go through the process of starting a business?
– What are our options for accessing capital?
– How do we identify the ideal business partner, vendor, and consumer?
– How do we balance the demands of work/business with those of our personal lives?

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Women’s Wednesdays was founded by Equality Bahamas as a response to community members’ requests for a space to access resources, experts, and practitioners, share knowledge, and engage in conversation with one another. Officially started in May 2017, Women’s Wednesdays highlights Bahamian women and our experiences in The Bahamas, specific to our identities including gender, race, sexuality, age, and ability. Held once per month at minimum, the events draw women together to have conversations that bring our individual lives into focus while connecting to family, community, and national narratives.

#WW242 intentionally centers and prioritizes women and girls, and is open to the public through in-person events, livestreams, and social media activity. With the support of the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, we create a safe space for knowledge-building, idea-sharing, critical dialogue, and movement-building.

Inspired by Equality Bahamas’ Women’s Wednesdays, there is now a similar initiative in Guyana, and other countries in the Caribbean are expected to follow our lead.

International Women’s Day Expo for Women & Girls: Press for Progress

International Women’s Day is on Thursday, March 8, and the theme is #PressForProgress. This year’s march is raising awareness of issues affecting women and girls, and demanding legislative changes to recognize women’s rights and human rights.

***WEAR PURPLE IF YOU CAN***

No means no, and only yes means yes. Rape is rape, no matter where it occurs, who is involved, what religion they practice, or how much time passes before it is reported. Bodily autonomy is necessary, and must be supported by all institutions and influencers. We are all responsible for creating a culture of consent.
Stand in solidarity with us at the Eastern Parade. Join us in taking our message to the streets. Lead the way to where we’ll spend the day, at the Expo for Women & Girls at The Dundas. Bring friends and family to engage organizers, experts, and practitioners, and participate in free workshops. It all begins with the #PressForProgress march at 9am.

**ROUTE**

Assemble on the Eastern Parade. March east on East Bay Street; south on Mackey Street; end at The Dundas on Mackey Street. We’ll go directly into the Tiny Talk Speaker Series and Expo.

**SIGNS**

Don’t forget to bring your sign! Want to work with others to make signs? Come to our sign-making event on Thursday.

After the march, the expo from 10am to 3pm starts with the Tiny Talks Speaker Series. Hear from organizations, experts, and practitioners about what they do, why, and how they can help you. Then the workshops begin with a variety of options from yoga and art therapy to eating well on a budget and bystander intervention training. Gain practical skills, knowledge you can share with family members and loved ones, and a better idea of the resources available to you here, in The Bahamas. Please note that this is a family-friendly event, and intentionally centers women and girls. Watch this page for updates on speakers and workshops.
There’ll be food and drinks for sale on site, but entry and access to the resources and activities is free. It’s a great way to celebrate International Women’s Day!