Caribbean women's organising and feminist activism have long been in conversation with, and challenging regional public policy-making to recast itself, to create access across diverse populations. Women Working for Social Progress’ (Workingwomen) work to end corporal punishment represents one such challenge to education policy in Trinidad & Tobago. Public policy-making is often seen as a heavily technical, bureaucratic process that is out of the reach of the everyday citizen. Workingwomen's activism against Corporal Punishment is an example of the need for the work of civil society to disrupt the exclusively bureaucratic framing of public policy making. Through the work of this campaign, this group of feminist activist exercised their right to participate in the policy process by unfolding women's lived experiences as being central to the work of the state, and assisting state actors to strategically and relevantly address policy priorities, through more inclusive, rights-based approaches. Drawing on the real-life accounts of the women who were involved in the campaign, group records and other archival materials, this essay explores Workingwomen's activism that set the tone for legislative change and inspired critical policy reform within the education sector concerning corporal punishment and children. Evident in this essay is the need for a nuanced understanding of the genesis and impact of violence in any given society. Workingwomen’s decision to focus on a largely unacknowledged link between corporal punishment and violence against women and girls remains one of the most important, often contentious points of policy and by extension behavioural reform in Trinidad & Tobago society.