1998

The Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action (CAFRA) concluded a successful 2-day Workshop on 2 December, 1998 under the Theme "Challenges and Perspectives for Women’s Leadership in the 21st Century." The purpose of the workshop was to strengthen the leadership capacity of women’s organizations.

Feminists from around the Caribbean will meet in Trinidad and Tobago this weekend at the preparatory meeting for the 8th Latin American and Caribbean Feminist Encounter, to be held in the Dominican Republic next November.

This year’s World AIDS Day campaign seeks to highlight youth as the force for change in containing the AIDS epidemic.

"Women Light the Way for Human Rights," is the theme for the 8th Annual 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence, linking the International Day against Violence against Women (November 25) to Human Rights Day (December 10). Launched in 1991 as part of the Global Campaign for Women’s Human Rights, the 16 days Campaign has grown steadily since then, involving women’s groups in dozens of countries who have organised events such as petition drives, tribunals, demonstrations, media campaigns, street theatre and radio.

In the three years since the Fourth World Conference on Women, the Caribbean women’s movement has suffered severe setbacks as the growing scarcity of financial resources ahs impacted negatively on the movement’s human resources. While demands on the skills and knowledge of women’s non-governmental organisations (NGOs) increase, opportunities for training new levels of leadership are far from adequate.

The small caption in The Gleaner of September 30, announced "Domestic helper slain", nothing unusual coming in the wake of violent disturbances that crippled downtown Kingston two weeks ago. The brief article described the 56-year-old domestic helper as one of "four persons killed violently in the Corporate Area and St. Catherine over the last 48 hours."

Feminists from 16 countries in the Dutch, English, French and Spanish-speaking Caribbean gathered in Puerto Rico on 28-29 August, 1998 to analyse the impact of geopolitics on the women’s movement in the Caribbean.

Since 1987, women’s groups from around the globe have celebrated the International Day of Action for Women’s Health on May 28, by campaigning for the prevention of maternal mortality and morbidity. Last year, the campaign in Latin America and the Caribbean shifted its focus to the exercise of sexual and reproductive rights.