On March 8 each year, we cel­e­brate In­ter­na­tion­al Women’s Day, high­light­ing the achieve­ments of women who con­tin­ue to break bar­ri­ers, chal­lenge in­equal­i­ties, and shape de­vel­op­ment lo­cal­ly and glob­al­ly.

This year’s theme, “Give to Gain,” un­der­scores a sim­ple but pow­er­ful truth: mean­ing­ful progress re­quires de­lib­er­ate con­tri­bu­tions from gov­ern­ments, in­sti­tu­tions, com­mu­ni­ties, and in­di­vid­u­als. When we in­vest in women, we all ben­e­fit as a so­ci­ety.

In Trinidad and To­ba­go, we have made en­cour­ag­ing strides in women’s health. Con­tin­ued gov­ern­ment fi­nanc­ing of women’s health pro­grammes, ac­cess to the HPV vac­cine that helps pre­vent cer­vi­cal can­cer, and the in­creas­ing avail­abil­i­ty of men­tal health clin­ics are im­por­tant gains. These are achieve­ments we should cel­e­brate and pro­tect.

As a gy­nae­col­o­gist, I see first­hand how crit­i­cal these ad­vances are. Pre­ven­tive care, ear­ly de­tec­tion, and ac­ces­si­ble sup­port ser­vices save lives. Women’s health is not just about treat­ment—it is about em­pow­er­ment, ed­u­ca­tion, and ac­cess.

We are al­so for­tu­nate to have a Min­is­ter of Health who is an Ob­ste­tri­cian and Gy­nae­col­o­gist, some­one who un­der­stands many of the health chal­lenges women face across the dif­fer­ent stages of life.

How­ev­er, progress must con­tin­ue. Our hard­work­ing NGOs that sup­port sur­vivors of do­mes­tic vi­o­lence, en­cour­age breast­feed­ing, pro­vide coun­selling, dis­trib­ute care pack­ages, and of­fer safe spaces for vul­ner­a­ble women de­serve sus­tained sup­port. These or­gan­i­sa­tions qui­et­ly strength­en the so­cial fab­ric of our coun­try every sin­gle day.

We all know the im­por­tance of a moth­er in the home. She is of­ten the bedrock of the fam­i­ly—bal­anc­ing work, car­ing for chil­dren, sup­port­ing a part­ner, and some­times tend­ing to el­der­ly par­ents. Women fre­quent­ly car­ry a dis­pro­por­tion­ate care­giv­ing bur­den, and with that re­spon­si­bil­i­ty can come ex­haus­tion and burnout.

Yes, women are strong. Many might even say we are “su­per­women.” We wear a cape! But strength does not mean we should strug­gle alone.

If we give sup­port and strength to our strug­gling, griev­ing, dis­abled, un­der­priv­i­leged, or mar­gin­alised sis­ters, that com­pas­sion mul­ti­plies. It spreads through the fam­i­lies, com­mu­ni­ties, and lives they touch.

Some­times the most pow­er­ful act of sup­port is very sim­ple. We can check on the col­league who seems un­usu­al­ly qui­et. We can ask a friend how she is cop­ing with stress or grief. We can of­fer en­cour­age­ment to a neigh­bour who may be go­ing through a dif­fi­cult time.

How dif­fi­cult is it to ask some­one about their sleep, their stress, or their health?

Women al­so face unique health chal­lenges. Many car­ry a dis­pro­por­tion­ate meta­bol­ic and hor­mon­al bur­den, deal­ing with con­di­tions such as pre­men­stru­al syn­drome (PMS), en­dometrio­sis, fi­broids, poly­cys­tic ovar­i­an syn­drome (PCOS), and thy­roid dis­or­ders, to name a few. Preg­nan­cy, post­par­tum re­cov­ery, and the hor­mon­al changes of per­i­menopause can al­so bring phys­i­cal and emo­tion­al chal­lenges.

This is why we must re­main at­ten­tive to the well-be­ing of our sis­ters and col­leagues, par­tic­u­lar­ly preg­nant women or those ex­pe­ri­enc­ing sig­nif­i­cant life tran­si­tions.

We must al­so con­tin­ue ad­vo­cat­ing for safe and walk­a­ble spaces where women can ex­er­cise, re­lax, and pri­ori­tise their health. Glob­al­ly, one in three women and girls will ex­pe­ri­ence vi­o­lence in their life­time, and this re­al­i­ty re­minds us why safe­ty must re­main a na­tion­al pri­or­i­ty.

Work­places al­so play an im­por­tant role in sup­port­ing women. Flex­i­ble work arrange­ments, ac­com­mo­da­tions for school pick­ups, work­place nurs­eries, and boss­es with an un­der­stand­ing of health-re­lat­ed con­cerns can make a mean­ing­ful dif­fer­ence in a woman’s dai­ly life. Long com­mutes, care­giv­ing re­spon­si­bil­i­ties, and hor­mon­al health chal­lenges can be ex­haust­ing, and thought­ful poli­cies can help re­duce that bur­den.

At the same time, we must recog­nise the im­por­tance of per­son­al re­spon­si­bil­i­ty for our own health. We must care for our­selves so that we re­main strong enough to care for oth­ers.

Let us en­cour­age our sis­ters to pri­ori­tise their well-be­ing. Speak open­ly about phys­i­cal and men­tal health. En­cour­age reg­u­lar Pap smears, breast ex­am­i­na­tions, and rou­tine med­ical check-ups. Ear­ly de­tec­tion saves lives.

On this In­ter­na­tion­al Women’s Day, reach out and give health ad­vice or en­cour­age­ment to at least one per­son. Praise the sin­gle moth­er vend­ing on the street to sup­port her fam­i­ly. Call the el­der­ly neigh­bour who may be liv­ing alone. En­cour­age the young woman who has over­come hard­ship and re­built her life.

They are all he­roes.

Our sis­ter­hood de­serves recog­ni­tion, re­spect, and sup­port.

When we in­vest in women’s safe­ty, rights, health, and lead­er­ship, we strength­en fam­i­lies, com­mu­ni­ties, and the na­tion as a whole.

In­ter­na­tion­al Women’s Day is not sim­ply a com­mem­o­ra­tion. It is a call to ac­tion—to pro­tect the progress al­ready made, con­front the chal­lenges ahead, and build a coun­try where every woman and girl can live free from vi­o­lence, fear, and dis­crim­i­na­tion.

A coun­try where their voic­es are heard, their health is pri­ori­tised, and their con­tri­bu­tions are recog­nised as in­dis­pens­able.

To all the women of Trinidad and To­ba­go: Hap­py In­ter­na­tion­al Women’s Day. Your strength, com­pas­sion, and re­silience con­tin­ue to in­spire us all.

Dr Sherene Kalloo

MBBS, DGO, DM, FACOG, MDW

Spe­cial­ist Ob­ste­tri­cian & Gy­nae­col­o­gist