Q & A with Khadija Sinanan

The day also saw a public forum discussion, held by the Institute of Gender and Development Studies (IGDS), UWI, St Augustine, on the Marriage Acts in TT. “Too Young To Wed”, the forum was chaired by Dr. Gabrielle Hosein, head of IGDS, and saw women panelists presenting on this pertinent subject. The panel included Dona da Costa-Martinez of Family Planning Association of TT, Brenda Gopeesingh of the Hindu Women’s Organisation, and Khadija Sinanan, co-director of local feminist group WOMANTRA.

An attorney whose work focuses on social and gender justice, Khadija’s presentation at the panel discussion included staggering statistics of underage girls married in TT over the past ten years. “I’m originally from Balandra and I grew up around people with strong working class sensibilities and an understanding of how important it is to stand up against prejudice and inequality,” she says of her drive to represent marginalised persons in our society.

“It wasn’t initially a definitively feminist space, it was more of a socialist understanding of the particular struggles that poor people faced and the many aspects of those struggles, whether it’s race, class, socioeconomic status.” As she grew older and began to understand the nuances of gender, it expanded this narrative and led to her understanding of why gender justice activism is necessary and important.

Today, Khadija expands on the arguments against our nation’s current Marriage Laws, her advocacy for gender minorities, and the intersectionality of oppressions and how the marginalisation of all is interlinked.

Q What does being an advocate for the rights of marginalised persons mean to you? How do you maneuver this being marginalised yourself?

It’s very personal, exhausting and rewarding work. Not personal in the sense that you have had the same experiences of the people you rally behind, because very often you haven’t, but its personal in the sense that you both connect strongly through this abiding notion that in spite of any differences that exist, everyone is entitled to being treated with decency, fairness and respect. It may seem clich? but it’s a powerful idea that is lost on very many people.

Q Recently, WOMANTRA was part of a street art campaign to promote awareness of child marriages in TT. How did the initiative come about, what was your turn out like, do you think this will help to bring more public outcry against these injustices?

WOMANTRA is a part of a coalition of non-profit and civil society organizations, led admirably by WINAD, the Women’s Institute for Alternative Development, that are presently engaged in a campaign to ensure that before 2016 is over, the marriage laws are changed and the practice of legal child marriage is abolished.

The coalition is 18 organisations strong and includes organisations like the Hindu Women’s Organisation, CAISO, PSI Caribbean and the YWCATT to name a few. We have been working for a few months around the issue of child marriage. The postering campaign done by WOMANTRA was one small part of this campaign. It wasn’t really an event to be attended by the public but rather an event that involved the participation of WOMANTRA members, but of course the public was free to join in. We plan on having more postering events soon since the first day was done on a smaller scale.

The objective of this and other activities in this coalition campaign is really to make the issue of child marriage more visible in our communities and to provide Trinbagonians with a clearer understanding of the disheartening realities of child marriage here at home. People often think of child marriage as a foreign faraway thing that happens in so-called extremist countries. Very few actually know that we have had more than a few happen here at home, with more than 500 girls being married over the past 10 years.

Just imagine that 87 girls were married in 2007 and two of those girls were only 12 years old. This is not the Trinidad and Tobago people recognize but it is real and it is happening and it’s high time we do something about it.

Q What are your specific thoughts on the oppression of children/ Young People’s Oppression in TT? What do you believe is the way forward for us as a society to bring an end to this?

It’s a very difficult question to answer given the myriad of youth and children’s issues that abound in Trinidad and Tobago. There’s no easy solution but what we know for sure is that is takes more than a token commitment to youth from the government and communities.

Very often people, politicians especially, like to feature young people’s issues in the political conversation as an afterthought or a soundbite. They rarely think critically about engaging with youth and addressing their issues and keep putting the same plaster on the problem. A lot of institutions are trying to change the narrative but to say that we have a lot left to do is an understatement.

Q What do you have to say about the intersectionality of oppressions? Why is it important for persons to recognise that the oppressions of all marginalised groups are linked and you cannot dismiss one without dismissing all others?

Intersectionality is the most important thing. The concept of intersectionality essentially means that there are many aspects of every individual person and therefore you can be dealing with many different forms of oppression and prejudice, for example race and class and gender and religion and sexuality and gender identity and more, at any one time. Understanding this and adopting an intersectional approach is central to my advocacy and the way we work at WOMANTRA. You cannot separate the different parts of yourself and so there is no way to realize any type of actual justice without addressing the role these differing parts play in the privilege and the injustice people experience.

The intersection of gender and class is a big one for us as WOMANTRA. Many people see the idea of feminism as foreign, elitist and imported because they are familiar with examples of feminism that center on white women’s experiences. This isn’t the case with the work of local feminist groups; our feminism is homegrown and takes into account our many racialised, colonial, gendered and historical experiences.

A good example of why we need to pay attention to intersectionality as we work is the adverse reaction many people had when we joined in the advocacy against the former Mayor’s comments on the murder of Asami Nagakiya. Many were upset because they felt that the uproar only happened because she was a foreigner.

Even though the outrage was incited by the former Mayor’s deeply problematic and offensive comments, I can understand why people would feel this way. It’s a natural reaction to have when you live in a society where we do not have that kind of response taking place when poor, black (meaning Afro, Indo and minority) women continue to be killed and abused on a daily basis.

The reality is that race and class often affect people’s perception of acts of violence and in order to end violence we need to identify those intersections and challenge how those prejudices sustain a culture of violence.

Q For those who may not quite understand the importance of reviewing our Marriage Laws, what are your personal words? Why is this societally necessary?

A 12-year-old girl was legally married in Trinidad and Tobago in 2007. Another 12-year-old girl was married the year before in 2006. In that same year, seventeen 13-year-old girls were legally married and eight 14-year-old girls were legally married. These marriages happened right here in Trinidad and Tobago, not halfway around the world in an extremist country where people believe are the only places where these things happen. Three girls have been married already since the start of the year. How many more child marriages have to happen before we change the law?

All of these girls and the many, many others who have been married are the reasons why these amendments are necessary. Their lives and the lives of the hundreds of others that will be married before they even get a chance to finish secondary school. They are why we need to change these laws. All of them deserve a chance at a childhood and an education, a chance at a life that they choose and not one that they are subjected to before they are even old enough to vote.

Q What about the religious/traditional argument for the upkeep of such laws? How do we combat such thinking with hard facts surrounding human and children’s rights?

The religious groups have been vocal in their position and there is no need for me to reiterate them here. What we need to make abundantly clear is that marriage is not a solution to end teenage pregnancy or improve the lives of teenage mothers.

We need to create solutions that empower girls in this situation and allow them to finish school and support themselves, rather than marrying them off in the hopes that this man will support them. It is no surprise that these marriages are often abusive as they involve placing young vulnerable young women many of whom have not finished school and have no means of supporting themselves, into a situation where they are entirely dependent on a man who is very often an older man.

These religious groups don’t seem to fully understand that when you marry a young girl to an older man because she is pregnant, you are marrying this girl to her abuser, to a rapist who has preyed on this girl and violated her. By what logic is that kind of depravity a viable option? We haven’t even started to discuss the financial abuse, psychological and domestic abuse that happen in these child marriages where girls as young as 14 and 15 now have to take on the responsibility of running a household and taking care of a man and a family.

Those who are quick to defend child marriage as a solution should think about these realities before they adopt these hardline positions. We respect the rights of religious groups to stand up for their beliefs and to advocate for them but we cannot permit the legalized abuse of girls and boys on the grounds that is it is a cultural practice. These religious groups need to take some time to understand the abuse and exploitation that the practice of child marriage permits and perpetuates before they even attempt to talk about what is best or morally right.

Q Do you believe there is enough unrest surrounding the Marriage Laws and child marriage to bring about change? What more must be done?

People need to be reminded that even though this is not headline news anymore it is still and issue, and that child marriages are actually happening here. Overall the public does not want child marriage to be legal and are in support of amending the laws. According to a survey done by UNAIDS in 2013, 67% of the persons surveyed opposed the Marriage Acts that allow child marriage.

The Attorney General’s office was enthusiastic about the consultation process and has indicated that they are going to amend the laws. During the consultation the AG himself promised that a draft bill would be in the public by September. September has come and gone and nothing has been made public. The Government needs to lay this bill in the Parliament and get the ball rolling on these much-needed amendments.

We are watching the developments closely and will keep the pressure on, as it seems without pressure there is no political will. All 18 organizations in our coalition have no intention of letting this matter slide and we are ramping up our campaign to ensure these laws are changed and that child marriage is abolished.

Q Last words or thoughts?

I encourage all Trinbagonians to get involved and speak up about ending child marriage! #ChildMarriageisChildAbuse Demand more and insist on the protection of our young people! Get on Facebook and post about it, write a letter, Tweet, Snapchat, whatever you choose to use, just reach out to your Member of Parliament and demand that they #amendthemarriagelaws and #endchildmarriage! You can get more info on Facebook – check out WOMANTRA’s page or WINAD, PSI Caribbean and Hindu Women’s Organisation.