Frustrated by gender-based oppression and the silence surrounding it, in 2007, four Indo-Caribbean women came together to create a space for dialogue among women in their community. They began organizing the first ever Indo-Caribbean Women’s Empowerment Summit. During planning for the Summit, in March 2007, 20 year old Natasha Ramen, a Guyanese woman from Hollis Queens, was slashed to death by her alleged rapist, also Guyanese. There was no outcry from the community, and it seemed like violence against women had become so widely accepted that a crime as heinous as Natasha’s murder did not warrant dialogue or action. Enraged, organizers of the summit grew even more determined. On March 31, 2007, the first Indo-Caribbean Women’s Empowerment Summit was held, where more than thirty women discussed domestic violence and cultural perpetuation of patriarchy. Such a gathering was unprecedented, and every attendee expressed interest in monthly or quarterly gatherings in their evaluation survey.
