IGDS DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION, AND BELONGING (DEIB) STATEMENT

IGDS DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION, AND BELONGING (DEIB) STATEMENT

The Institute for Gender and Development Studies commits to creating a welcoming environment by putting into practice our values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB). We both affirm and expand on The UWI’s diversity policy, which states: 

The UWI will foster a culture and work/study environment that is open and welcoming to different ideas and perspectives, acknowledges and values diversity, is inclusive of and affirms the dignity of all persons regardless of: race, socio-economic status, age, sex, gender identity and expression, physical and mental ability, sexual orientation, family or marital status, national origin, language, political or religious persuasion, health status, and other characteristics that make our constituents unique.

The IGDS fosters inclusivity and belonging by striving to create nurturing and welcoming spaces for everyone. To uphold our values of DEIB, we support and encourage freedom of expression that does not veer into the realm of hate speech. We all must communicate our ideas responsibly and ethically with the intention of inclusivity and belonging, deepening understanding, and transforming inequitable and unjust systems. The IGDS is a space that seeks to interrogate colonial structures and long-standing inequalities and their impacts on knowledge creation and educational curricula. We strive to create inclusive classrooms that incorporate different ways of learning, including emancipatory and liberatory approaches. Freedom of expression should not result in stigmatisation, discrimination, domination, violence, and alienation.  

As part of our educational, activist, and gender transformative objectives, we support respectful debate, dialogue, and a diversity of viewpoints. We encourage discussions that contribute to enacting gender justice, a central pillar of The UWI and the foundation of the One UWI 2024 Gender Policy, and empowering women and girls in all their complexity and fullness through awareness-building, behaviour change, and policy initiatives. We acknowledge our collective responsibility to create sustainable and thriving societies. We strive to facilitate an educational and workplace environment in the IGDS across our curriculum, through our policy initiatives, projects, and other activist endeavours that contribute to achieving these goals.