The most powerful action I have seen in terms of women’s collective action was in 2007 when Turks and Caicos hosted the Caribbean’s most popular sporting event, the CARIFTA Games. The thought of such an idea was unprecedented since no infrastructure was in place. This didn’t stop Minister of Sports, Hon. Lillian Boyce, along with President of the TCAAA, Hon. Rita Gardiner to start a campaign to empower and bring about lasting change in the areas of sports. It was that group of women who used their collective voices and stood up against the giants when told, “eine happening.”
Female leadership combined with Collective Action offers a powerful, consistent, and unified approach for like-minded individuals to work together to bring about change that would not be possible to accomplish individually. Silence is not an option! When we remain silent, nothing happens. Collective action leads to a great deal of empowerment, not only for individual women but for the entire society.
By: Hon. Rita J. Gardiner, OBE, OTCI
TCI National Hall of Famer and CGA Life Member
