CEDAW: A Tool for Ending Gender-based Violence

Conversation with Bahamian attorney-at-law and CEDAW Committee member Marion Bethel on November 29, 2021 about the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and how it can be used to end gender-based violence.

Background:
The Global 16 Days Campaign was started in 1991 by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership. The 16-day period starts on November 25, International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and ends on December 10, International Human Rights Day.

As a part of its strategy to end gender-based violence, Equality Bahamas participates in this campaign with a series of events, now virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s theme, linked to the multiyear focus on violence in the world of work, is domestic violence at work.

In addition, the special theme for the 30th anniversary of the global campaign is femicide. Equality Bahamas recognizes both themes, integrating them into its activities during this period and the following year.

Watch the replay of the conversation below.

 

16 Days 2021 – Femicide Around the World

Conversation with Hasnaa Mokhtar, Dawn Lavell Harvard, and Shahin Ashraf on November 27, 2021 about femicide in different regions and communities and the interventions we need.

Background:
The Global 16 Days Campaign was started in 1991 by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership. The 16-day period starts on November 25, International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and ends on December 10, International Human Rights Day.

As a part of its strategy to end gender-based violence, Equality Bahamas participates in this campaign with a series of events, now virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s theme, linked to the multiyear focus on violence in the world of work, is domestic violence at work.

In addition, the special theme for the 30th anniversary of the global campaign is femicide. Equality Bahamas recognizes both themes, integrating them into its activities during this period and the following year.

Watch the replay of the conversation below.

 

16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence 2021

The Global #16Days Campaign, 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence, starts on November 25. We have a series of events and action planned, and we welcome you to join us.

The multiyear focus of the campaign has been on violence in the world of work, coinciding with the global campaign to #RatifyC190 (International Labour Organization‘s Convention 190 for the Elimination of Violence and Harassment in the World of Work), and this year’s theme is domestic violence in the world of work. In commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the campaign, started by Center for Women’s Global Leadership, the additional theme of #femicide is being recognized.

Our focus will be on both themes, and we will carry them in 2022 as we advocate for recognition of the intentional killing of women as femicide and the development of implementation of specific responses to it and the ratification of C190. It all starts with 16 Days, and 16 Days is just the start.

Join us for conversations about language, community responses to gender-based violence, reporting, data collection and analysis, CEDAW, and human rights. Get creative with us at the Dunham-inspired dance workshop and the rememorying poetry workshop. There’ll be lots of conversation and exploration, and we will also be looking for you to join us in a set of actions to make our demands, toward ending #GBV, clear. Check out the lineup and register for a session or two (or three, or four, or all!).

Full schedule of the online events:

Thursday, November 25, 6pm — Femicide: Exploring the Theme with Andra Manasi

You may recognize Ardra Manasi from a #16Days session last year which was focused on ILO Convention 190 on Violence and Harassment in the World of Work. She’s joining us again this year, this time to talk about the Global 16 Days Campaign’s 30th anniversary theme of #femicide.

Friday, November 26, 12pm — Femicide Around the World with Hasnaa Mokhtar, Kristina Neil, Dawn Lavell-Harvard, and Shahin Ashraf 

#Femicide, the gender-based killing of women, happens all over the world. Join us on Saturday at noon EST for a conversation with four people bringing regional perspectives.

Monday, November 29, 6pm — CEDAW: A Tool to End Gender-based Violence with Bahamian attorney-at-law and CEDAW Committee member Marion Bethel

On Monday at 6pm, we’ll be joined by #CEDAW Committee member Marion Bethel to talk about the Convention and how it can be used as a tool to end gender-based violence. We’ll look at four articles and apply them to our context to help us understand structural violence against women and the need for reform, not only in law, but also in policy, programming, and resource allocation. You don’t need to know anything about CEDAW to participate, so join us.

Tuesday, November 30, 6pm — Conversation for Men on Gender-based Violence with Todd Sargent, Stephen Thompson, Dominic Duncombe, Lavetanalagi Seru 

Join the conversation for and with men at 6pm, focused on gender-based violence, masculinity, and what men need to do to end gender-based violence. This conversation will be moderated by Todd Sargent, Acting Political/Economic Chief at United States Embassy Nassau, The Bahamas.

Wednesday, December 1, 6pm — Rememory as Method: A Poetry Workshop with Brendane Tynes

Thursday, December 2, 6pm — Community Responses to Gender-Based Violence

On Thursday, Jessica, The Therapist, Kiden Regis, and Rev. Kelli Jolly will be in conversation with us about the response of communities to gender-based violence and how it impacts survivors.

Saturday, December 4, 12pm — Dance Workshop with Gabrielle Miller

Monday, December 6, 6pm — Reporting on Femicide and Gender-Based Violence with Ava Turnquest, Cathy Otten, and Daffodil Altan

This week, Journalism Initiative on Gender-Based Violence JiG launched its digital guide, Silence and Omissions: A Media Guide for Covering Gender-Based Violence. In our conversation on Monday at 6pm EST, we’ll talk with Ava Turnquest (EyeWitness News), Cathy Otten (JiG), Daffodil Altan (FRONTLINE) about the way the media reports on and shapes public understanding of and responses to gender-based violence, how reporting needs to change, and why this guide is necessary.

Tuesday, December 7, 6pm — Using Data to End Gender-Based Violence with Aneesah Abdullah, Melissa Scaia, and Eugenia D’Angelo

People always want numbers, and we don’t always have them. How are we thinking about data? What data is available to us? How do we need to use it to end gender-based violence? Join us for this conversation with Aneesah Abdullah from UN Country Office in The Bahamas, Melissa Scaia from Global Rights For Women, USA, and Eugenia D’Angelo from MundoSur, Argentina on Tuesday at 6pm EST.

Thursday, December 9, 6pm — Fostering a Culture of Human Rights with Gaynel Curry

We’re looking forward to learning about human rights from Gaynel Curry. She’ll give us the basics, and we’ll talk about what it takes to develop a culture of human rights. Join us on Thursday at 6pm EST.

16 Days 2021 – Femicide: Exploring the Theme

Conversation with Global 16 Days Campaign Manager Ardra Manasi on November 25, 2021 about 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence, the 30th anniversary theme of femicide, and the importance of naming and counting femicide.

Background:
The Global 16 Days Campaign was started in 1991 by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership. The 16-day period starts on November 25, International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and ends on December 10, International Human Rights Day.

As a part of its strategy to end gender-based violence, Equality Bahamas participates in this campaign with a series of events, now virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s theme, linked to the multiyear focus on violence in the world of work, is domestic violence at work.

In addition, the special theme for the 30th anniversary of the global campaign is femicide. Equality Bahamas recognizes both themes, integrating them into its activities during this period and the following year.

Watch the replay of the conversation below.

Developing Feminist Standards for Governance

Ahead of the 2022 general election, Equality Bahamas is facilitating the development of a community-sourced set of feminist standards for governance that respond to the structural issues and systems of inequality that shape the lived realities of people in The Bahamas. The feminist standards for governance will function as a declaration of our position, assessment tool for political parties and candidates, and call to action for the next administration.

In the first collaborative working session on July 7, we discussed seven thematic areas—health, education, women and LGBTQI+ people, social services, youth, environment, and labor and economy in small groups and considered three critical concerns—gender-based violence, climate change, and disaster management. On Wednesday, July 21, we will continue to look at those themes and critical concerns.

For an example of an outcome document developed from a similar process in 2020, check out our Policy Recommendations to End Gender-based Violence:
https://docs.google.com/…/1zBF4NIhnt6JB7WD0Thq5…/edit…

Conversation on women’s political leadership

Events

On May 6, 2021, Equality Bahamas’ founder and co-director Alicia Wallace facilitated this event with Judith Alpuche, La Fleur Quammie, and Sharie de Castro about women’s political leadership.

Watch the replay below.

 

Women’s Wednesdays: I’m Taking My Body Back

Events

In this Women’s Wednesdays session from April 8, 2021, Brendane Tynes takes us through what it means to reclaim our bodies after ancestral legacies of shame with a “loving myself” meditation, journalling, and reflection questions.

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.

Watch the replay of the session below.

 

Virtual Tour: Medicine & Memory – Public Health in The Bahamas

Events

This virtual tour, led by Katrina Cartwright of the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, originally took place March 9, 2021.

“Medicine & Memory” takes a look at our histories and practices around public health in The Bahamas in four parts: History of Public Health, Post Colonial Health Inequalities, Impacts of Climate Injustice on Health and Wellbeing, and Alternative Healing Modalities & Black Healing Practices[…] Artists for our online exhibition include: Margot Bethel, Jacob Frank Coonley, Tyrone Ferguson, Tamika Galanis, Peggy Hering, Leanne Russell, Netica “Nettie” Symonette and Maxwell Taylor.

Watch the replay below.

 

IWD 2021: Planet Pleasure

This year, our theme for International Women’s Day is pleasure. We welcome you to Planet Pleasure — a place to revel in what we enjoy, explore new potential sources of pleasure, and share what we know and love.

10am – Pleasure Poetics (collaborative poetry) with Brendane Tynes
11am – Practicing Pleasure (theater exercises) with Paula Hamilton-Smith
Noon – On the Mend (DIY clothing repair and refresh) with Hermie Escamilla
1pm – Gardening with Allicia Rolle / Pleasure card-making with Zearier Munroe
2pm – Contemporary Movement (dance) with Shauné Culmer
3pm – Yoga and Yoni Meditation with Mykah Smith

This is not only for heart, mind, and body, but for our feminist politic. It is directly related to the conversation about marital rape (we talk about consent, but what about women’s right to sexual pleasure?). It is also critical to the conversation about women’s unpaid labor and the burden of care, which are barriers to leisure and pleasure. It is a necessary component of our recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Pleasure cannot be separated from our lives and what we need to sustain ourselves.

We lean on the wisdom of queer Black feminist women and challenge ourselves to not only demand pleasure, but to give ourselves permission to create and experience it for ourselves.

From Audre Lorde, “The sharing of joy, whether physical, emotional, psychic, or intellectual, forms a bridge between the sharers which can be the basis for understanding much of what is not shared between them, and lessens the threat of their difference.”

From Adrienne Maree Brown: “[…] begin to understand the liberation possible when we collectively orient around pleasure and longing.”

Watch the replay of the event below.

Women’s Wednesdays: Pleasure as a Right and Resource

This session with Carla Moore originally took place March 4, 2021.

We have a right to pleasure. We need to spend more time finding, creating, feeling, and sharing pleasure. It’s time to think about what brings us pleasure and how we can have more of it. Pleasure is not only what feels good to us, but what helps us to understand what is wrong and how to approach it. This month, we are looking at a pleasure as a practice and resource, and as a lens to revisit critical issues such as marital rape and women’s unpaid labor. Life coach, academic, and activist Carla Moore will get us started with the personal, and from International Women’s Day forward, we will get deeper into the political.

– What are the sources of your pleasure?
– How do you create pleasure for yourself, and how do you choose to share it with others?
– What would you explore if you had permission?
– What old messages are you still grappling with that have limited your pleasure?

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
Watch the replay of the session below.