 St. Lucia on Monday, 8th March joined the rest of the world in celebrating International Women's Day. Minister for Education, Innovation, Gender Relations and Sustainable Development, Honourable Dr. Gil Rigabet, in a national address says while the island has made strides in addressing the disparities that exist between the genders, there is still work to be done. One area of priority for the government she noted is gender-based violence. The comprehensive assessment of services for gender-based violence made possible through technical assistance from UNFPA, identified the degree and quality of services offered to victims of gender-based violence, and pointed to various gaps which guided the development of the package of essential services for women and girls subject to violence, which was launched on February 26 right here. Additionally, a comparative review of the Domestic Violence Summary Proceedings Act of 1995 with the 2016 Domestic Violence Bill and other domestic violence legislation in the region and beyond, which resulted in very specific recommendations for amendment of the Domestic Violence Bill, which, when enacted, will increase access to justice for a wider range of victims of domestic violence. The Gender Relations Minister noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed that men and women are very much alike and are impacted in similar ways. Women in the world over have been at the forefront, managing the COVID-19 crisis and account for the highest number of employees who lost their jobs. Women also accounted for the highest number of individuals who suffered abuse during partial and complete lockdowns. The Government of St. Lucia has implemented a number of initiatives aimed at ensuring gender parity. I have undertaken to strengthen a normative framework through the development of a transformative national gender equality policy and strategy that boldly and unapologetically seeks to create a policy framework for creating substantively equal opportunities and status for women and men in St. Lucia. By so doing, I joined women activists and change agents around the world in ushering an era of parity, which challenges the norms of patriarchy that reinforce unhelpful and unfair triple burden of care in the home, community and workplace for the proper women. That was Minister for Education, Innovation, Gender Relations and Sustainable Development, Honourable Dr. Gil Regabat.