Linnette Vassell, MPhil History, a graduate of the UWI, Mona, where, from the 1980s into the 1990s she taught Caribbean History, including Women’s History, is part of that generation of women, who have been associated with the struggle for women’s rights in the region since the 1970s. She was the first Coordinator of the Committee of Women for Progress (CWP) a left wing activist organisation formed in 1976 which was among the pioneering organisations for the struggle for Maternity Leave with Pay for women. She is also a member of Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action (CAFRA), Gender and Water Alliance, a global network of organisations, and the Board of the Small Business Association of Jamaica. Linnette Vassell is currently involved in graduate teaching at the UWI Mona’s CGDS. Her publications include: "Power, Governance and the Structure of Opportunity for Women in Decision-Making in Jamaica" in Patricia Mohammed, ed., The Construction of Gender Development Indicators for Jamaica (PIOJ/UNDP/CIDA, 2000); “Colonial Gender Policy in Jamaica, 1865-1944”, in Brian Moore & Swithin Wilmot, eds., Before and After 1865: Education, Politics and Regionalism in the Caribbean (1998); “Women of the Masses: Daphne Campbell and `Left’ Politics in Jamaica in the 1950s”, in Verene Shepherd, Bridget Brereton & Barbara Bailey, eds., Engendering History, and Voices of Women in Jamaica 1898-1939 - a compilation of writings and speeches of women (1993).

Abstract: “Feminisms, Gender Studies, Activism: The Elusive Triad”