More men should be involved in domestic violence awareness

Jun 22, 2010 News

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Men should be more integrally involved in programmes geared at combating the scourge of domestic violence. This notion was emphasised yesterday when the Mayor and City Council of Georgetown (M&CC) kicked into motion a domestic violence sensitisation programme.
The programme was deemed a phenomenal move on the part of the municipality to address the social issue, which has for some time now been permeating the society.
Yesterday’s forum attracted a wide cross-section of municipal workers, amounting to about 40, who were yesterday exposed to interactive sessions during the domestic violence awareness workshop at the National Library’s Conference Room. The participants were eager to learn but according Ms Wendy DeCunha, the municipality’s Health Education Representative, it was somewhat of a disappointment that there were only three male municipal workers in attendance.
“We were expecting to have a ratio of one male to one female but lo and behold we just had three males.”
She attributed the low male turnout to the fact that some men prefer to shy away from the issue of domestic violence perhaps because factors will be directed to the male gender; or there is also the belief that this issue is mainly geared only towards women.
“I think some men believe that workshops such as these always see the women as the victims and men always as the perpetrators and never as victims too.
“This is not the case because we have males who are victims of domestic violence also but because of the macho image and socialisation men suffer in domestic situations and they withhold and will not speak out and seek counselling.”
Similar sentiments were echoed by the municipal Personnel Officer, Ms Paulette Braithwaite, who expressed concerns that although she had personally recommended that several men from the various municipal departments attend the sensitisation session, her efforts seemed in vain.
And in order to address this challenge, DeCunha said that the municipality will be working towards having a continuous programme which will encourage the involvement of every level and gender of staff.
Plans for this programme are intended to be sustained with a view to directing a proposal to the administration of the municipality of the crucial need for Welfare Arm. “What we find here will be the motivating factor as we expect that we will find out what is really happening among workers. Sometimes job performance is not efficient and it could be as a result of what is occurring in people’s home so we see the need for a welfare office.”
Among the facilitators at yesterday’s forum were professionals drawn from the Human Services Ministry, and Help and Shelter, a non-governmental organisation. The participants were enlightened to the various forms of abuse and the existing laws that relate to this act of violence.
The workshop also sought to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and how it should be dealt with in the workplace. It was just earlier this month that the municipality incorporated the use of an HIV workplace policy as part of its efforts to protect the health of all employees and to ensure that they work in a safe environment.
Public Relations Officer, Royston King, had disclosed recently that the move, which was in the making for several years, comes as part of the municipality’s effort to emphasise the fact that workers’ well-being is crucial.
“When we say that we are concerned about workers’ welfare we are serious and we are moving in this crucial direction because we believe that if we can cater to their well-being, then we will be able to get more out of them in terms of service.”
According to HIV/AIDS Programme Co-ordinator within the municipality, Dale Beresford, the programme is a review of a policy that was put in place since 2006 and in fact represents a collaborative effort between the municipality and the Guyana HIV/AIDS Reduction and Prevention (GHARP) Project One.
The policy, according to Beresford, entails some critical elements in terms of keeping with modern trend of HIV/AIDS and other life threatening diseases.
“What we have here is a policy that deals with illnesses and the 10 key principles of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on HIV/AIDS on the world of works.” As a result, the policy addresses issues such as stigma and discrimination, confidentiality, reasonable accommodation and also the treatment of HIV/AIDS as any other life-threatening disease.
It also includes issues such as tuberculosis and other diseases that can occur in the world of work.
The policy was initially put together during several consultations with key stakeholders including supervisors, junior staff and representatives of the Guyana Labour Union and the Guyana Local Government Officers Union (GLGOU) and officials from GHARP.

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