How WOC started

One day a little girl asked her aunty to help her with her Social Studies homework. “Who are the important women of the Caribbean”, she asked. Her aunty was stumped, because although there were stories online of successful women she knew what was currently available did not represent the fullness of the Caribbean womanhood and the diverse experiences of the women in the Caribbean Diaspora.

Women of the Caribbean is a blog dedicated to every Caribbean woman. It is a repository of the stories of lives and experiences of women connected to the Caribbean space, told by women of the Caribbean space.

This is a website about us and for us created to memorialize who we are on our terms. All are welcome to share their stories of the women they love, admire, fear or misunderstand. The transcendent nature of Caribbean women demands a space and this is it.

Defining Caribbean

It can feel like the Caribbean is anglophone tourist centred islands revolving around, Jamaica, the Bahamas and maybe Trinidad (not even Tobago) with Carnival, beautiful beaches and reggae (not even soca). From another perspective, the Caribbean is predominantly Hispanic with the majority of its population residing in the Greater Antilles. The Caribbean is the home of a complex history, creating a dynamic but fragmented reality. The region's historical and ethnic sameness has allowed for a shared identity in the midst of political, economic and environmental variation.

Some places and people are more easily identified as Caribbean. It is easy to accept that St. John’s, Antigua is Caribbean or a Puerto Rican is Caribbean but is Flatbush Ave in Brooklyn New York part of the Caribbean? Is a Venezuelan citizen Caribbean? Is a Korean expat living in Jamaica?

The project broadly defines the Caribbean the space and people of the Great Caribbean Basin plus the Guianas (Tezer 2020)
This includes
● areas of in North, Central and South America connected to Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico – e.g. Lower Louisiana, parts of Mexico Belize, Guatemala and much of Venezuela and Guyana
● Spanish, French, English and Dutch speaking spaces
● Women not born but residing in the Caribbean
● Women born in the Caribbean but no longer residing in the Caribbean
This definition is larger than most would expect but it affords the reader of the blog to an opportunity to widen their gaze and by recognizing all of the women who share in this identity.

Are you a Caribbean woman with a story to tell or do you know one? Get in touch. Stay in touch