Hundreds of men and women joined the Life in Leggings movement for a women’s solidarity march through the City yesterday afternoon. Their event was called “Reclaim Our Streets” and was a part of a regional movement which was supposed to have similar marches occurring simultaneously across other Caribbean islands. However, this did not occur as a result of several last minute changes, which organisers were forced to put in place as a result of a clash with the Step Up If Yuh Fed Up protest.
STARCOM NETWORK NEWS also understands that at least one organisation pulled its funding suddenly, leaving the event’s future in question until just three days before Saturday.
Founder of the Life in Leggings movement, Ronelle King, did not specify the challenges encountered, but said she was satisfied with yesterday’s turn out. “When we were chanting: my body, my rules, it reaffirmed, you know, that you this is my body and you can’t shout things at me, you can’t tell me what to do with my body,” she said.
Also present at the march was Minister of Social Care, Stephen Blackett, who highlighted what government is doing to promote gender equality in this island. “We are on the cusp of rolling out a gender policy which is almost completed, we are just a few adjustments, a little tweaking here and there but we will soon present it to the sub-committee of Cabinet.”
Opposition Leader, Mia Mottley, who was seen at the end of the march speaking to participants, said she was happy to see that both marches could co-exist. “When we chose the date for our march, we didn’t know about this march, but as soon as we found out, we worked in a collaborative fashion. This issue deals with the behaviour of people across society, and our march deals with the behaviour of a government,” she said.
