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We must sufficiently empower our women

Aug 03, 2010 Editorial

Everyone should be extremely concerned about the persistence of violent abuse of females in our society despite numerous strategies developed by government and various social organisations to combat this problem.
This is not a problem that suffers from a lack of public awareness and action. There are almost daily media reports of cases involving every sickening variety of violence against females.
The nation has responded with several measures, including the strengthening of women’s rights in the nation’s constitution, various justice system reforms, increased penalties for perpetrators and the establishment services to help women who are victims of violence.
Generally speaking, despite many years of such initiatives, Guyana still lacks the type of knowledge and understanding of the nature, causes and effects of violent abuse of females that are necessary to deal effectively with the problem.
Consequently, strategies aimed at prevention seem to have had only minimal impact, while female victims of violence and abuse continue to have only very limited access to legal and psychological assistance.
Programmes aimed at preventing the abuse of females in Guyana tend to be undermined by the pervasiveness and inflexibility of cultural norms that socialise women into submissive roles from early childhood.
The perception that men are superior to women and the notion that violence and virility go hand in hand are manifest in several communities and social groups in Guyana. Since being masculine means being dominant and tough, men’s subjugation of women by violence is often tolerated by the victims themselves as well as their communities.
Also, programmes aimed at helping survivors of such abuse to recover are simply too resource-deficient to provide comprehensive, professional assistance. Places that provide professional help for abused women and girls are far too few to meet the needs – in most regions of Guyana, there is none at all.
Shelters where victims can seek refuge are almost non-existent. The vast majority of victims seem to get little or no professional help in self-healing, coping and survival skills.
Surmounting these obstacles in Guyana is not going to be easy. The slow progress of action concerning violence against women and weaknesses in implementation suggest that the male-dominated society still does not recognise the gravity of abuse against females.
Guyanese women cannot depend on actions taken by government and a handful of social organisations on their behalf. They need to get organised, develop their own alternative programs, and undertake to be the driving force behind these.
This should seriously focus on what appropriate actions they can take by themselves – as mothers, wives and community activists – to break down detrimental cultural stereotypes that provoke all forms of abuse against females, and try to decrease labelling and marginalisation of victims.
They need to develop and undertake campaigns and information programmes to explain the nature, extent, causes and consequences of violence against women, and exert social pressure to seek adequate assistance to the victims of abuse.
Guyanese women must increase their active participation in solving the problem of violence against females. More women need to start influencing society through their actions in their own homes.
Women also need to establish female support networks in their communities, so that victims would not have to face perpetrators of such abuse alone. The abuse of any female in a community diminishes every female in that community.
The long-term success will depend on men’s involvement, but dealing with the problem’s underlying social issues will be much easier if there are sufficiently empowered, self-assured women working with men towards a solution.

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