Dear Editor,
As the world observes International Women’s Day and reflects throughout International Women’s Month, we are reminded that the struggle for gender equality has always been about expanding the boundaries of justice and dignity. Feminist movements have historically challenged discrimination, violence, and systemic barriers faced by women and girls. Yet, as global conversations on equality evolve, it is important that feminism remains inclusive and responsive to the realities of all women, including transgender and gender non-conforming people whose voices have often been marginalized within broader gender justice movements.
The urgency of this conversation is underscored by sobering global data. According to the World Health Organization and UN Women, nearly one in three women worldwide, approximately 840 million women, have experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. In the past year alone, an estimated 316 million women, or about 11 percent of women aged 15 and older, experienced physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner. Women who experience violence are also more likely to face serious health consequences including depression, sexually transmitted infections, and unintended pregnancies.
These statistics also reveal deeper structural inequalities. Global research shows that women living in climate vulnerable and low income contexts, including Small Island Developing States, often face higher levels of intimate partner violence than the global average. Climate related disasters, displacement, and economic instability can increase stress within households, disrupt access to health and protection services, and heighten risks of gender based violence.
Yet within these already troubling realities, some women remain largely invisible in public policy and advocacy discussions. Transgender and gender non-conforming women frequently experience heightened stigma, barriers to healthcare, discrimination in employment, and violence in both public and private spaces. Their experiences rarely appear in official data, meaning the scale of the problem is often underestimated. The absence of inclusive data, policies, and services perpetuates cycles of vulnerability that undermine broader efforts toward gender equality.
In Jamaica and across the Caribbean, organizations such as TransWave Jamaica have been working to change this reality. Through community empowerment, research, policy advocacy, and partnerships with health providers, civil society, and international agencies, the organization has helped bring attention to the intersection of gender justice, health access, climate vulnerability, and human rights for transgender and gender non-conforming people. This work recognizes that inclusive feminism must address not only gender based violence but also structural barriers that prevent marginalized communities from accessing healthcare, safe housing, employment, and disaster response systems.
Importantly, the struggle for inclusive gender equality is not about competing rights but about expanding them. Feminism at its core seeks to dismantle systems that harm people because of gender. When transgender women and gender non-conforming communities are included in these conversations, the global movement for justice becomes stronger. A feminism that recognizes intersectionality acknowledges that discrimination is shaped by overlapping identities such as gender, race, sexuality, class, and geography.
As we reflect during International Women’s Month, there is an opportunity for policymakers, advocates, and the public to recommit to a vision of feminism that is inclusive, intersectional, and grounded in human rights. The fight against gender based violence, health inequities, and climate injustice cannot succeed if the most marginalized voices remain unheard. True progress requires listening to and uplifting those voices, particularly trans women who have long been excluded from spaces that claim to champion equality.
If gender justice is to mean anything in the twenty first century, it must include everyone whose lives are shaped by gender discrimination. Inclusive feminism is not simply an ideal, it is a necessity for building a more just, equitable, and compassionate society.
Lamar Grant
Interim Executive Director
TransWave Jamaica
