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“One of the things I’ve learnt is that women as critical actors can get things done and they can push through legislation for other women,”
- Kim John-Williams on Women in Leadership and Gender Responsive Policy
Last week, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Kim John-Williams to discuss her dynamic career history as well as all things feminism, women in politics and reproductive rights.
Unlike most of my interviews, Kim, who works for the Institute of Caribbean Studies (ICS) actually reached out to me first, to connect and invite me to speak at an event that they’re hosting in honour of International Youth Day, entitled “Shaping the new Normal: Youth led discussions for enabling Caribbean recovery and resilience.”
Who is Kim John-Williams?
As we began conversing for the first time and I heard a bit more about her history, her passion for feminism and the work she’s done through multiple organizations, I knew I had to interview her.
In her younger years, Kim would never have envisioned the path her career would take. From representing Trinidad and Tobago internationally as a swimmer, coaching other swimmers, to studying Environmental Law and International Affairs, it’s by no stretch of the imagination that I can say that Kim has done it all.
In September of 2006, Kim enrolled in St. Joseph’s Convent, San Fernando. Although her time there was short-lived, she recalled countless memories of sneaking copies of “Twilight” into school to read, getting into trouble alongside her classmates for being too loud .
“I had fun [at Convent], it was a lot of laughing, and a lot of getting roasted mercilessly, it built a lot of character.”
After her time at Convent, she moved to Tennessee where she finished her high school education at Baylor School (2010), before beginning her studies at the University of Georgia (UGA) in 2013.
At UGA she pursued International Affairs and Environmental Engineering. However, as she struggled to balance athletics and academics, Kim quickly realized that this engineering thing was not going to work.
Eventually, she decided to take the plunge, and switched her major to Political Science and International Affairs, where she found her true passion and what felt for her like the right path to take.
As she put it, “I’ve always been interested in the way that the world works, how globalization has affected different people and the ways in which the decisions that people make at high levels and government affects people and the power dynamics between countries.”
Kim credits one particular class for helping to spark her passion for women’s rights and further compound her feminism.It was a class that she had taken in her junior year of college taught by Dr. Maryann Gallagher called “Women in World Politics”.
“Dr. Gallagher’s class really forced me to think really critically about my place as a woman in the world, how I am viewed as a woman in the world, how are women viewed in positions of power, why is it so difficult for women to get elected, how are countries governed differently when there are more women in power and what is gender mainstreaming. I remember I was like “wow this is so cool”.
Kim explained that at the time she was taking the class, the novel ‘Lean In” by Cheryl Sandberg had just been released which inspired a wave of women to ‘Lean In’ and to embrace positions of Leadership. Around this time as well, Trinidad and Tobago had just voted in its first female Prime Minister,Mrs. Kamla Persad-Bissessar So for this Trinidad native, it all felt full-circle.
A Defender of Women’s Reproductive Rights
Another area that Kim is passionate about is women’s reproductive rights.
As cited in a post by the Global Fund for Women, “Access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights is a basic human right.”
Women’s reproductive rights refer to the legal rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health. Women’s reproductive rights can cover anything from comprehensive sex-education and access to contraceptives to family-planning and abortion facilities.
Kim explained that, “Women’s reproductive rights and a woman’s ability to choose, plan her family and determine how she’s going to reproduce, when she’s going to reproduce, how many children she’s going to have or if she wants to have any children at all, is so important for her health, her other children’s health and her family’s economic growth.”
She referenced a book she had read, “ The Moment of Lift” by Melinda Gates, a biography that chronicled Gates’ work within the Gates Foundation, aiding women in India and Africa. Kim explained that a lot of the book dealt directly with the issue of reproductive rights and making affordable contraception available and accessible to the women in these countries.
Poor Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) leads to an increase in maternal mortality, an higher prevalence of STDs and STIs, increases in teen pregnancies and domestic violence, which leaves women especially vulnerable.
Despite this lack of adequate resources, Kim explains that many women in conditions where access to contraceptives and safe and sanitary sexual health facilities are limited to non-existent, often feel pressured to reproduce due to societal expectations. Even if they are also experiencing economic challenges.
“Many of these women can’t take care of their children, but there’s a social expectation that they’re going to have children and so many of [these children] are at higher risk of dying prematurely. Many of these children are malnourished or have to start working early because they need to help the family financially.”
She went on to explain that placing these responsibilities and expectations on women while also restricting their right to their own autonomy was, in frank terms, mad.
My Body, My Right
In further addressing the issue regarding women’s autonomy, Kim made sure to highlight the gender bias that exists within the legislature governing women’s bodies.
In her words,“You couldn’t legislate a man’s body, there’s no laws telling men what they can and cannot do with their bodies.”
Kim also emphasized the lack of progress that has been made with respect to the implementation of proper SRHR policies. She explained that unlike the UK, Caribbean islands had not progressed past the policies of colonial times, with respect to SRHR, and instead chose to hold on to these outdated laws that restrict women’s rights over their own bodies.
Kim's position on SRHR is clear, “What I find especially baffling is that, for instance, in Trinidad, the law that bans abortion, is derived from a colonial law, that’s british common law. The British got rid of that law decades ago. Holding on to these vestiges of colonial rule and not being able to take our society to another place in order to provide protection for women is baffling to me.”
This is not to say that all Caribbean nations have maintained these laws. Kim made reference to Barbados (legalised abortion in 1983) and Guyana (legalised abortion in 1995), both of which have incorporated access to abortions into their laws in order to make SRHR more comprehensive and accessible to all women within their individual nations. In the case of Barbados, this reform had occurred as a response to high rates of maternal mortality.
Around the world, 22 million unsafe abortions are estimated to occur each year, a number that we’ll never be fully certain of due to the heavy stigma surrounding the topic of abortion in many societies.
When analyzed , the lack of progress pertaining to these laws was still quite shocking. The psychological and socio-economic impact of unsafe abortions are dire not only to the woman undergoing the procedure, but also has a detrimental effect on our health systems and forces our government to bear a greater cost than if proper measures were implemented, in the first place.
The cost, both literal and metaphorical, however still has a greater effect on the women undergoing the procedure and as Kim so aptly pointed out, “access to reproductive healthcare delineates socio-economic strata” that is to say that a poorer woman is at greater risk of needing to have an abortion and in turn seeking to undergo this risky procedure than a woman within the upper or middle class who would’ve more readily had access to contraception and family planning services. In this way, restrictions on abortion rights continue to perpetuate the cycle of poverty.
Kim emphasised the importance of implementing comprehensive reproductive laws to protect women, instead of condemning them.
In her words, “If a women does not want to have a child, she is going to find a way to not have that child, you need to have protections in place so that she can have autonomy over her own body and it doesn’t put her life at risk,and if she gets caught terminating a pregnancy, that does not brand her a criminal. If a woman cannot afford to have another child there is no reason that we should force her to.”
Finding Peace and Balance
In closing I asked Kim if she had any parting words of wisdom to share with CARIFEM readers. She provided the following insight:
“Things that have been working for me lately have been yoga and meditation. I try to get a workout in and I do a bit of yoga, just to put my mind at rest and to have a sense of mindfulness through meditation or deep breathing. I’m grateful that amidst all that is happening, I’m still able to have breath in my body.”
She also encouraged others to take this time that we have, to read. Here are a few of her top picks that you can consider adding to your quarantine reading list.
To find out more about Kim and what she's up to lately you can find her on Instagram (kimberleejw) and Twitter(@k_j_dubya) .
To find out more about the ICS you can click here, and to register for Shaping the New Normal, click here.
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