International Women’s month in March is unusually dire this year in the wake of COVID-19 restrictions that have seen women put under increased stress. It is for this reason Where Ladies Talk felt it necessary to focus on mental health and our everyday challenges in the second instalment of “A Woman Speaks”.
Women face economic pressure as they lose almost twice as many jobs as men during Covid-19 are subject to an unequal burden in childcare and suffer increased violence as they are put in vul-
nerable positions during the lockdowns. The Where Ladies Talk online collective have sought to assist with a number of initiatives including “A Woman Speaks”.
WLT will celebrate women throughout the month of March, hosting a series of talks every Wednesday evening under the title “Let’s Talk Like Crazy: Choose to Challenge Mental Health”. The event is hosted online on the Zoom platform. Front and centre are amazing women like Samina Cepal, Jassica St. Rose and Abisola Amina, sharing personal success stories. These will be supported with valuable professional information from Francesca Plummer, Dr. Julius Gillard and Olympia Piper-Cools Vitalis. Singers Naomi Grandison and Sally Elwin, spoken word artistes Janice Hector and Lisa Dublin and calypsonian Lady Leen will also entertainment to help us forget this pandemic, if only for a while.
We will also present our Woman of Courage Award to Colleen Newman of Grow Well, who has had a significant impact by giving of herself to address a social issue. Human rights attorney Mary Francis was the first winner of this award during the seminar at the Bay Gardens Beach Resort in 2019.
This pandemic has upturned our lives, including cancelling the 2020 AWS seminar. However, this year Where Ladies Talk had to come together to spread the spirit of love, positivity and community. We invite all into the space every Wednesday to speak out, let your voices be heard around this issue and keep the same energy.