In light of In­ter­na­tion­al Women’s Day this year, Ke­va­tia De Sil­va, 17, a stu­dent of Barataria South Sec­ondary wrote a po­em on gen­der in­equal­i­ty in the work­place for her SBA.

When I was young, ma­ma said to me

I could be any­thing I want to be

But how can that be when it’s plain to see

Work­places that prac­tice gen­der in­equal­i­ty

Let me tell you a lit­tle bit

Of gen­der in­equal­i­ties if you per­mit,

Me, an open mind and a lis­ten­ing ear

To share the strug­gles women face chas­ing a ca­reer

Let us look at un­equal Pay

And dis­cuss the wage gaps that ex­ist to­day

We could work the same hours, have the same rank

But some­how you get a big­ger salary in the bank

Ask fe­male foot­ballers, ath­letes and crick­eters

Check the pay gap be­tween ac­tress­es and ac­tors

Just the oth­er day, Tara­ji ad­dressed the di­vide

But it’s not just in Hol­ly­wood, it hap­pens world­wide

What about ac­cess to cer­tain oc­cu­pa­tions

They say on­ly men could be in those po­si­tions

So­ci­etal norms say that’s not a la­dy’s role

But many women could climb up a T&TEC pole

They say we don’t have the strength to lift heavy loads

We can’t op­er­ate heavy T trucks and dri­ve on the roads

They think we could on­ly type and op­er­ate print­ers

We are not fit to be Po­lice Com­mis­sion­er and Prime Min­is­ters

What about CEO and oth­er roles of lead­er­ship

Too of­ten we are side­lined for broth­er­hood and kin­ship

Climb­ing the Cor­po­rate Lad­der is like climb­ing Mt Ever­est

And for a woman, our gen­der is seen as a weak­ness

This cre­ates a bias in un­der­stand­ing our ca­pa­bil­i­ties

And cre­ates imag­i­nary glass ceil­ings that sti­fle in­dus­tries

Where women can do equal work, for equal gains

Yet the pow­er of in­equal­i­ty reigns

Let’s not for­get the trou­ble women face

In en­vi­ron­ments where male dom­i­nance is em­braced

Sex­u­al ha­rass­ment has be­come the nor­mal prac­tice

On the job sites and in the of­fice

Sta­tis­tics show most cas­es are filed by women

Un­der the at­tack at work by su­pe­ri­or men

Some chose to stay silent, and some, their jobs they leave

But oh, what a tan­gled web we weave

There­fore, we need to get gen­der in­equal­i­ty un­der con­trol

Cre­ate a bet­ter en­vi­ron­ment for women and girls

Bring forth change and amend our poli­cies

Trans­form work­places with gen­der equal­i­ty

The gov­ern­ment must lead the way and re­move the di­vide

Em­pow­er our women to stand side by side

With our male coun­ter­parts, we make this de­mand

Let gen­der equal­i­ty take over this land