Showing up on the streets – International Women's Day activism in Trinidad and Tobago

Over the past 40 years, civil society organisations in Trinidad and Tobago have coordinated a march and rally through the streets of the capital, Port of Spain, to mark International Women’s Day (IWD). The local tradition of public demonstrations for women’s rights dates back to a placard protest organised by Christina Lewis in 1958, but it is the joint celebrations organised in the mid-1980s that have grown into the Annual International Women’s Day March that is a regular fixture on the national IWD calendar.  International Women’s Day is a prominent commemoration in Trinidad and Tobago that is also marked by academic conferences, meetings and workshops; cultural events; political messages; and United Nations-led outreach campaigns and activities. Among these, the annual march and supporting rally has become a recurring opportunity for women’s rights activists and their allies (ranging from the dozens to the hundreds) to give voice to their cause and give it a public face.   

In 2025, social networks and owned media, like websites, extend the reach of IWD messages and mobilise public engagement in the commemorative experience. For these audiences, such participation can often be as simple as liking a post or making the extra effort to repost or share. Information and communication technologies eliminate distance and facilitate connection and sharing of experiences with the click of a mouse or movement of a thumb across a screen. Why then would an ‘offline’ activity like a march, which requires lending one’s body and voice to a cause, continue to be seen by women’s rights activists and their allies in Trinidad and Tobago as a useful opportunity to reaffirm their commitment to goals of gender equality?

For Dr. Sue Ann Barratt, Lecturer and Head at the Institute for Gender and Development Studies, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, the visibility offered by this annual march serves as a reminder of the work still required to create safer, more equitable societies. ”People think women have everything and they’ve arrived”, she says, “but, truthfully, women continue to negotiate their bodily autonomy, their sexuality, their rights to self-determination and property and inheritance and safety in the workplace and safety on the streets. So, we have to keep reminding of who we are in this world and in this space.” 

One defining tradition of the annual IWD March in Trinidad and Tobago is the call to 'bring yuh message and come’, encouraging participants to bring their own signs, placards, and banners highlighting the issues, messages and concerns that speak directly to their own experiences. 

In keeping with this tradition, organizers at the IWD 2025 March set up a 'poster-making table', complete with coloured boards, markers and pens, for participants to create their own signs. This enthusiasm for choosing colours and decoration and putting marker to paper to create a hand-drawn representation of one’s thoughts and ideas, may seem surprising in the era of Canva, Photoshop and digital printing. What enduring attraction therefore does a procession with handmade signs, in the sun (and sometimes rain) hold for participants?

For one mother, her participation in the march and spur of the moment decision to create a sign is the commitment of self and voice to the cause, as well as an opportunity to share this experience with her daughter: “Empowerment first starts from within… so I felt I needed to model for her that power is not always given to you. You have to assert it, kindly, respectfully, humbly, justly. And as women we do that with such, such, such persistence.”

An annual march offers genuine allies the opportunity to not only physically demonstrate their support, but also possibly to educate and recruit others to the cause. As one male ally explains, an intentional physical presence with signs, placards or banners, all work in concert to educate and amplify messages: “I can only talk to so many people. But when I’m walking, people will see the sign. And when they see this young guy holding up this sign, they will be like ‘maybe I could do the same, as a young or older man in society.” 

The IWD March is also a forum to comment on current issues and challenges relevant to the status of women in society. Inspired by a published op-ed and informal conversations with friends on current events, one march participant felt moved to create her sign addressing the ongoing work still needed towards a more equitable and safe society. 

“So, my thing is women do not have it all [and] I was looking for sort of like ‘key words’ ‘buzz words’ easy concepts to grasp: what are the things that women still do not have? 

Her sign spoke to clarity on the issue of consent and the ongoing discussion on equality, especially in terms of compensation and respect.

This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and from 10 to 21 March 2025, during its 69th session, the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) will reflect on the progress that has been made towards the goals of gender equality and recommit to the work that still lies ahead. 

The Annual International Women’s Day March in the Trinidad and Tobago is a yearly ritual of ‘showing up’ with one’s physical presence and voice. Amidst the digital communication conveniences of the 21st century, this march is an interactive, interpersonal and creative space carved out by local gender activists and their allies to renew commitment, educate others and foster solidarity, and to model to younger generations what support ‘in real life’ can look like.

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View more photographs taken by the United Nations Information Centre for the Caribbean Area (UNIC Caribbean) at the 2025 IWD march in Trinidad and Tobago by visiting the Flickr Album.

This story was first published to the website of UNIC Caribbean.