Award-winning Guyanese-Caribbean gender advocate committed to building ‘gender-just’ societies in the region

DR TIVIA COLLINS is proud to be one of the persons at the forefront of transforming how gender and gender relations are viewed in Guyana and the Caribbean.

She has set for herself a mission to push the frontiers of research and discourse on gender studies to address inequalities and injustices and to lead efforts to challenge norms, and advocate for equal opportunities for women and girls as well as inclusive societies across the region.

But her adamance to pull back the curtain and explore the impacts of gender in society and social relationships, especially in the lives of women and girls from vulnerable communities, was not what she had intentionally envisioned to do or to pursue as a lifelong career.

Yet despite facing adversities, Dr Collins was conferred with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Interdisciplinary Gender Studies (awarded High Commendation) from the University of the West Indies – St Augustine Campus (Trinidad and Tobago) in October 2022.

She has also accomplished a long and rewarding list of academic publications and achievements highlighting her commitment as a specialist in the field toward building gender-just societies.

Growing up in a family-oriented home in Plaisance, East Coast Demerara (ECD), Dr Collins reflected that as a child she loved reciting poetry. For her, there was amusement in how words could powerfully give meaning to different things.

She shared that her mother, Pauline Collins, often urged her to ‘choose a career that will feed you as you feed your love’. These encouraging words about making the right decision proved to fortify Tivia’s interest in thinking about her role in society as a young girl.

At first, she nurtured her curiosity for arts and culture by participating in theatrical plays. Several years later, at the age of 16, she enrolled at the University of Guyana – Turkeyen Campus (Georgetown) to complete a Bachelor’s (B.Sc.) in International Relations

“I did one gender studies course at the University of Guyana, and it intrigued me, but I never thought of pursuing gender studies at the Master’s or PhD level at that point,” recounted 33-year-old Dr Collins in an exclusive interview with the Pepperpot Magzine.

With growing optimism in the field of gender and development studies, Dr Collins was eager to examine how social, cultural, and political factors impacted gender. The focus would mean looking closely at the differences in development of women and men and girls and boys.

“My gender lens really started to come in!” Dr Collins remarked, happily.

A Turning Point
During her studies, Dr Collins began to think more about the power of womanhood and how it was seen in relation to the roles that women were socialised into. Roles, she noted, which are impacted by our very traditions. The goal was also to explore how those traditions can create challenges for women’s lives.

“I started to think specifically about gender and the role or place of women and girls in society and the gendered roles in society,” she disclosed before mentioning: “This became my framework for functioning, and of course, I still did theatre arts.”

After graduating four years later from university in 2010 as the Top Graduating International Relations Student, a young Tivia Collins worked as a Senior Executive Assistant at the United Nations Children’s Fund – Guyana and Suriname (UNICEF).

While at UNICEF, she applied that very gender lens while venturing into vulnerable communities to write and share humanitarian stories on how systematic inequality and structured violence affect children.

Later on, she accepted an offer in 2013 to become a part-time lecturer of several undergraduate courses such as ‘The Theory and Practice of Politics’, in the International Relations department at the University of Guyana.

“Gender is everywhere,” declared Dr Collins.

Becoming a Gender Specialist
A pivotal moment in her life was being awarded the Caribbean Island Pacific Mobility Scholarship (CARPIMS) in 2014 to complete a two-year Master’s degree (M.Sc.) in Gender and Development at the University of the West Indies (UWI) – St Augustine Campus.

She fondly recalled that her decision to embrace the academic field of gender studies came from the encouragement and support of her mentors, Professor Paloma Mohamed-Martin, PhD, A.A, IX Vice Chancellor of the University of Guyana, and Mr. Kadasi Ceres, her lecturer at the time.

As a student in Trinidad and Tobago, Dr Collins invested considerable time in examining the interactions between Guyanese and Trinidadians, specifically the gendered social relations between the two groups.

She grew interested in speaking to Guyanese about their experiences while living and working in the country. “I began to speak to people and I realised that Guyanese women have a very unique experience in Trinidad and Tobago whether they are working for the government, an institution, or on their own,” Dr Collins explained.
These observations were critical for her extensive research in areas such as abortion rights and migration.

Dr Collins went on to complete an academic research paper in 2016 on the ‘Politicisation of Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Guyana.’ During this time, she also lectured a few undergraduate courses at the UWI, such as ‘Feminist Theoretical Frameworks’ and ‘Women and Work in the Global Economy.’

Further, she explained that there was an existing gap in Guyana for published research on Guyanese migrant women and girls.

Taking a deep dive into filling that knowledge gap on the many experiences of Guyanese migrant women, Dr Collins took on this area for her PhD research in 2016.
She would later move to research intraregional migration by analysing the experiences of Guyanese migrant women and girls, earning herself the Gold Award for Outstanding Work and Research in 2022.

“A lot of their experiences had to do with how they looked and spoke, the jobs they had or were able to access, and how they were surviving and thriving,” she said before indicating that her research will help to guide laws and policies, and other Guyanese researchers.

There is one thing that Dr Collins is certain of – she is determined to create gender-just societies and to continue to open the door and guide more women and girls to the field of Gender and Development Studies. Today, she is the Interim Director of the Institute of Gender Studies at the University of Guyana.