View Point

“The average male wage in 2008 (the last Labour Force Report) was TT$4,640 a month and the female was TT$3,758. Among male officials and managers, the mean salary was just over TT$8,000 a month, while women earned TT$5,000. Among male professionals, the mean monthly salary was over TT$11,500 whereas for …

“[…] I have no good wishes or aspirational sentiments. I’m not checking milestones women have achieved or the records we have smashed… I am preoccupied by our extinction at the hands of our men—our husbands, partners, baby fathers, lovers. “Who can celebrate on Women’s Day when there is so much …

I was raised in a Christian sect that was founded in the late 19th Century in the USA. It managed to find its way to the Caribbean island of Trinidad and Tobago in the 1920’s. Though I was raised in what the great humanitarian, Bishop Desmond Tutu, enthusiastically called a “Rainbow …

“On Monday 5 March, workers informed their supervisor that they wanted to leave at the stipulated knock-off time—which is their right—and were told that they could do what they wanted. “On Tuesday 6 March, when workers reported for work, they were prevented from entering the compound and were, in fact, …

“In the event of an appeal, I believe that it is incumbent on any member of the Court of Appeal who is assigned to the appeal to state, either in open Court or in Chambers in the presence of all counsel, that he or she is not one of those …

I ended my “Comments” of 21 February with anthropologist Kumar Mahabir’s opinion that a re-scripting of the “Black Power” label might have seen more Indo-Trinbagonians eagerly embracing the movement. This will remain an open question. But if his reactions to other aspects of Afro-Trinidadian cultural engineering without the “black” label …

“Trinidad and Tobago has very antiquated laws, some dating all the way back to the 18th Century; the main laws dealing with offences to the person date back to 1925 and have remained more or less untouched since then. To understand why this is so, we must go back to …

Ancient Egyptians believed that a person’s name, the “rn” (ren), was “the foundation of a being as an individual.” A person’s name had a power of its own and lived as long as it was spoken; thus, the proverb, “To speak one’s name is to make him live again.” This …

Trinidad has twice received rave reviews from the New York Times (NYT) regarding our food and culture. These reviews were published in the travel section of that newspaper. These are travel advisories of a very different kind from the negative ones we receive regarding crime and terrorism. The more recent …

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has appointed controversial Port-of-Spain South MP Marlene McDonald as Minister in the Ministry of Public Administration and Communications. McDonald, the PNM’s deputy political leader, was already twice given a ministerial portfolio under the current administration and was fired on both occasions. She was sacked as …

Next week Thursday, a week from today on 8 March, the world will celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD). Between now and then here in Trinidad and Tobago, some will clink glasses, others will engage in “big” talk at cocktail parties while others will analyse gender issues to death in panel …

Now believe me, Madam Minister, I understand the pressure you are under to be seen to be delivering the goods. And as far as PR and Photo Op visibility in our society goes, few events rank higher than a ribbon cutting or key distribution ceremony. The honeymoon period is well …