Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jan 17, 2017 Editorial, Features / Columnists
In the past year, gender-based violence especially against women increased substantially to such level that it led the former United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon to sound the alarm that “Violence against women and girls is a human rights violation, public health pandemic and serious obstacle to sustainable development.
It imposes large-scale costs on families, communities and economies. The world cannot afford to pay this price.”
Guyana is part of the international community which every year observes 16-days of activism against gender-based violence. November 25 to December 10 is commemorated as the International Day for the Elimination of violence against Women. During this period, the global community would raise public awareness of violence against women which has its genesis in the unequal distribution of power between genders.
Studies have shown that gender-based violence cuts across ethnicity, race, religion, education and international borders. An estimated one in three women worldwide has been beaten, forced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime. It is the same for the countries in the Caribbean and the rest of the world.
Unfortunately, and it is very sad, over 50 percent of violence against women go unreported each year.
It has been reported that the Caribbean has one of the highest incidences of rape and violence against women. On a per capita basis, the Bahamas has the highest number with an average of 133 per 100,000, followed by St. Vincent and the Grenadines 112, Jamaica 51, Dominica 34, Barbados 25 and Trinidad and Tobago 20. In Guyana it is 57.
Over the last few years, Guyana has witnessed an alarming increase in gender-based violence and the targets are overwhelmingly women. However, many cases are not being reported because women feel a sense of shame and prefer to suffer in silence. Some blame themselves and would commit suicide.
Many women have opted to remain silent because of the high tolerance for lawlessness. Those in authority need to do more to encourage women to report any violence against them to the police.
Gender-based violence has psychologically damaged the minds of many children as well. Children are traumatized whenever they see one parent, especially their mothers, being physically abused their fathers or their mother’s boyfriends.
Many have become withdrawn, rebellious, depressed, and angry, perform poorly in school, and can become abusers as adults.
However, society has not yet come to the realization that not only women are the victims of abuse, but men have also suffered at the hands of their spouses or significant others. But in a society which heavily favours masculinity, men are rarely afforded the opportunity to express their concerns mainly out of fear of being ridiculed or have their manhood questioned by other men.
In this New Year, all in society including the government, civil society, churches and other stake-holders should work towards eradicating gender-based violence and its impact on women through public education. The education system also has an integral role to play by infusing the subject in the school curriculum.
Although there are laws to prevent violence against women, society needs to ensure that the police and security forces should be trained to better equip themto deal with such violence.
If the state is serious about tackling gender-based violence, the least it can do is to create safe spaces in each of the ten regions for the survivors of violent abuses. The state has an obligation to protect its citizens from danger.
It should also strive to fulfill the UN Sustainable Development Goals number five, which speaks to gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. It needs to foster relationships between the sexes and ensure that women and girls have equal access to all resources and are protected from all forms of discrimination and violence.
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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