Latest update April 24th, 2024 12:59 AM
Nov 21, 2017 News
With the overarching theme of “Celebrating Men and Boys” everywhere on International Men’s Day (IMD) on Sunday last, the Ministry of Social Protection collaborated with a number distinguished individuals to emphasise the need to salute males in their positive endeavours.
This year, the Gender Affairs Bureau within the Social Protection Ministry collaborated with the National Community Policing Executive as part of an important step to address issues affecting Men and Boys in Guyana.
In his remark to the gathering at the Guyana Police Force Training Centre Auditorium, Eve Leary, on Sunday, Senior Gender Affairs Officer, Pastor Diego Alphonso spoke of the need to show males of society that they are loved, appreciated and needed.
“The theme of this year IMD was “Celebrating Men and Boys” which I believe is timely in the Guyana context, because our males are severely stereotyped as they are the main perpetrators of domestic violence.”
“Statistics is showing that men are committing suicide the most. However, there is still a lot to celebrate about our men and boys in Guyana, because we cannot paint all men with the same brush and there are many good men that are not being celebrated and recognised. Even the ones that have not quite gotten their act together, we should reach out to and mentor them,” Alphonso urged.
The Gender Affairs Officer emphasised the importance of a multi-stakeholder approach to grapple with challenges facing our male citizens.
In this regard, Alphonso pointed to the “Community Advocates Programme” (CAP) which was rolled out by the Ministry of Social Protection, by which community advocates who are trained as Liasion officers of the Ministry now work in their communities.
Meanwhile, in her address, Minister of Social Protection, Amna Ally noted that, “it is important for us to not only celebrate our men and boys, but to highlight issues that affect men, including men’s and boys’ health, male suicide rates and the underperformance of boys in schools. These are serious issues that this government intends to address.”
She said too that more emphasis should be placed on improving gender relations, promoting gender equality, and highlighting positive male role models in Guyana.
“We are cognizant that most gender initiatives continue to focus on women. This is understandable. However, we need interventions targeting and supporting men for change. We need to do much more.
“We celebrated International Women’s Day a few months ago. Let us continue to recognise women for all the advances and contributions they have made, but let us also ’empower women by empowering men’ and recognise that we need new approaches and huge efforts to achieve this objective.”
On the other hand, the Minister urged men to stop living in denial about their own issues and vulnerabilities.
“We must empower our men, not in the conventional sense, by giving men more power over women. Rather, by empowering men to challenge prevailing norms and change their behaviour. This is logical, even though it has not been the prevailing approach. Gender is a “system” and both women and men are integral parts of this system. If we want to see meaningful change, both men and women are implicated. It is not enough to enlighten and empower women and expect men to follow.”
“We need to fully promote the principle of equality for both genders. Let the boy child grow up knowing he has a precious role to play for a gender balanced and equitable society.”
While noting that the Ministry “stands ready to work with you to eliminate gender based violence”, Minister Ally encouraged men to take positive initiatives to eliminate gender stereotypes and promote gender equality.
“I want to encourage men to participate fully in all actions towards gender equality and urged the establishment of the principle of shared power and responsibility between women and men at home, in the community, in the workplace and in the wider national and international communities,” she said.
International Men’s Day is observed on November 19 annually with the objective of improving on men’s and boy’s health, gender relations, promoting gender equality, and highlighting positive male role models.
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