Co-director of Womantra Amanda McIntyre says what #lifeinleggings did was monumental in the regional campaign towards the eradication of violence against women and girls. She said it was the creation of a hashtag and the use of a social media platform in which women had been trained in for years that gave women a chance to present their unedited and uncensored voices.
Yesterday’s event was the culmination of 16 days of activism against gender-based violence.
Womantra is a Trinidad-based feminist organisation.
Over 100 people came out at the Big Black Box on Murray Street in Woodbrook, to show support and solidarity towards the cause.
McIntyre said: “When Womantra was founded, it was with the intent to claim a space in which people could share and access information about the work in and around social justice movement, specifically, feminism as expressed in a Caribbean context.”
She recalled earlier this year when the organisation “successfully protested” for the removal of former Port-of-Spain mayor Raymond Tim Kee following his remarks surrounding the death of Japanese pannist Asami Nagakiya. She said: “This week, with the death of Shannon Banfield, we are again stopped in the sense of urgency for the galvanised efforts of the State and civil society organisations in the process of putting an end to violence against women and girls.”
The names of over three dozens women who were killed or have been missing were read aloud with the crowd saying: “We remember you.”
Second-year law student, Terry-Ann Roy who spoke on the origins of #lifeinleggings said while many women were vocal about their experiences over the past few weeks, there were those who would never be able to share horrific experiences.
Roy said: “Today, we honour these women and we commit ourselves to finding solutions to protect all women in a society that has fostered destructive forms of masculinity and oppression.”