We value our women

Feb 02, 2020 APNU Column, Features / Columnists

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The APNU+AFC condemns in the strongest possible terms the despicable and disgusting comments made recently by former PPP General Secretary and Minister of Home Affairs while on his party’s platform.
These sentiments, our Coalition feels, illuminate the speaker’s very contemptible thoughts and feelings about the women in our country and the role he believes they should play. The former PPP leader and government minister, further accents this distastefulness by invoking very similarly appalling but well denounced comments of US President Donald Trump, as if this grants him the licence to debase the women of Guyana in this manner.
APNU+AFC is aware of the attempts to characterise this degradation as a joke, but wish to strongly contend that any situation which seeks to cast aspersions on the contributions and progress made by the great women of this nation must be taken seriously and met with the contempt it deserves.
Lest they all be stained by this inexcusable conduct, APNU+AFC calls on People’s Progressive Party Presidential candidate Mr. Irfaan Ali and all of their members to publicly disavow these comments and reject out of hand, the type of behaviour that seeks to relegate the women of Guyana to positions of disrepute and dishonour.
Women are the custodians of the fundamental values that sustain families, and are critical for success in generating social wealth and creating an environment of peace, justice, security and stability. APNU+AFC recognises, supports and celebrates women’s leadership participation and contribution to society; eleven cabinet ministers in the David Granger-led administration are women.
However, the economic and political gap between men and women is still too wide. Women and girls, despite a few remarkable exceptions, are being left behind and are still relatively disadvantaged
APNU+AFC aims, in the first instance, at designing, along with its social and political partners, a national policy aimed at ensuring that there is, equality of women in politics and society; eradication of extreme poverty; enhancement of employment opportunities; elimination of violence against women and enhanced access to education, especially in the sciences and technology.
APNU+AFC will continue to legislate and implement policies and programmes aimed at making Guyana a more equal society. Equality for women is essential if everyone is to benefit from this country’s bountiful resources.
Women have made some significant strides over the past four decades, and there is now, much more awareness of women’s rights. There is, however, still a long way to go for women to achieve full equality. The gap in economic, political and social achievement between men and women is still too wide.
Our Coalition is committed to eradicating extreme poverty. A major obstacle to equality is the prevalence and persistence of poverty. Poverty impacts significantly on the wellbeing of mothers and babies across the country. The burden of poverty and the task of running impoverished households fall disproportionately on women.
The sole breadwinners of households in many instances are women. These burdens must be lightened if there are to be happy families and happy households. Women must be provided with greater opportunities if they are to escape from poverty.
APNU+AFC is already working on various measures to assist women to lift their families out of poverty. We will continue to encourage greater entrepreneurship by women. Micro-credit and access to small business loans can have a positive impact on poor households headed by women. It can increase their incomes and improve their quality of life.
Violence against women must be eliminated. Men have been abusing and killing their wives and partners with frightening frequency. The elderly, children and men have also been victims of abuse. Domestic violence − physical or psychological abuse − is becoming more pervasive. It does not respect race, religion, culture or class, and has penetrated every corner of the country and every stratum of society.
We have operationalised the family court; given special training to our police. The judiciary and magistracy continue to receive special training on the detection and consequences of domestic violence on the family and the society at large, and the necessity for expedited determination of these cases.
An APNU+AFC government will continue improving girls’ access to primary and secondary schools. Women have made their mark in education and, through education, have made their mark on society. Increased access to education by girls has been a step towards greater equality. Women have narrowed the educational gap. They have made considerable strides because of access to education and because of their performance in education.
Your government wants to magnify these successes, particularly for disadvantaged women. We are keen on ensuring that those women who have not benefitted from a formal education, who dropped out of school or for some other reason did not complete their schooling, can have access to remedial programmes that focus on numeracy, literacy and matriculation.
This access will allow them to improve their situation and enjoy employment opportunities. We will also actively encourage women to enter technical professions such as architecture, agriculture and engineering, in which women are under-represented.
Over the next five years we will pursue policies and implement measures aimed collectively at ensuring that we have more happy families and happy households.
As we pursue these policies and measures, let us bear in mind that the struggle for equality is a national one. Let us join hands with our sisters in all ten regions to promote greater equality for women.
Finally, we of the coalition APNU+AFC want to reassure the great women of this country of our support, appreciation and profound gratitude for the way they have served this nation and contributed to our collective wellbeing. In that regard, we pledge to continue to build on the strides we have made in the advancement of the cause of women and girls in Guyana, and are confident that the team we have comprised to let this progress continue are more than equal to the task.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper).

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