Opal Palmer Adisa | Let us end gender-based violence

As 2020 draws to a close and we look forward to the start of a new year, my desire for a Jamaica, free from violence of all sorts against women and girls, is also renewed. Sixteen days of activism against gender-based violence (GBV), which began on November 25, the International Day of the Elimination of Violence against Women, ended on December 10.

The 16 days may have ended, but the fight, my fight, against GBV has not.

Each year the statistics for GBV in Jamaica go up, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only made matters worse. Statistics show that Jamaica has the second-highest femicide rate in the world, with 10.9 murders of women per 100,000. That is second only to El Salvador (12 per 100,000), a country that as recently as 1992 was locked in civil war. Those statistics are alarming and every Jamaican should be embarrassed by that data. The most recent publicised incident was that of a 17-year-old girl who was beaten to the brink of death by other women because she supposedly looked at a man. There are many other stories that have not been heard.

Gender-based violence occurs when men and society physically, emotionally and consciously impede and hurt women. Gender-based violence is rooted in hatred and resentment of women, in the patriarchal attitude that says that ‘women are less than’ and must be pushed around and ordered.

The UNDP states that “reducing gender-based violence is a public good that benefits individuals, families and communities in many ways. Reducing GBV is a driver for progress across a host of specific Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets.” As a feminist, gender specialist and university director of the Institute for Gender & Development Studies Regional Coordinating Office (IGDS-RCO), I understand that in order to eliminate gender-based violence, eliminating violence itself is the overarching target.

OFFENSIVE AND MISOGYNISTIC

Gender-based violence is offensive and misogynistic. It is an idea so entrenched that even the poorest man on the street who is jobless feels that he has the right to call out to any woman he sees. International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women is about helping the populace understand that such male privilege is wrong and harmful. It is crucial that we re-educate men and the entire population and eradicate those cultural attitudes that condone GBV.

Since the late 1970s, Jamaica has been living in a pandemic of violence and we have not done enough to lessen and eradicate that violence. There are too many structures in our society that endorse violence, including community justice. It is this type of violence that is condoned, which often breeds and leads to gender-based violence. The consequences of such violence are far-reaching – economic and social. GBV impacts on health, loss of work due to injuries and even affects tourism.

Violence against women begins in language. So let us watch and teach our men and boys to be careful of how we speak to our women. Jamaicans must no longer accept violence of any kind, but especially not violence against our mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, aunts, nieces and friends.

As we approach 2021, let us say to ourselves, “I will be vigilant and ensure that no violent act in words or deed is perpetrated on any woman or girl in Jamaica. No violent act in word or deed by anyone, man, woman child, teacher, preacher and politician. I will not sit silently and allow violence of any sort to hamper the life of any woman or girl.”

Let us strive to create a Jamaica where each of us can live, cohabit and excel economically, educationally and socially; a Jamaica where we are all safe, free and protected. Let us all work together to end gender-based violence in Jamaica and fight violence each and every day.

Opal Palmer Adisa is the university director of Institute of Gender & Development Studies Regional Coordinating Office at the UWI.