'Educate the public, save our women from violence'

Women's-rights groups are calling for more public education and awareness to put a stop to gender-based violence in Jamaica.

Activist groups and government agencies, including the Bureau of Women's Affairs, gathered last Thursday for a review of the national strategic action plan to eliminate gender-based violence in Jamaica.

According to gender consultant Violet Sutherland, in her presentation to a room filled with stakeholders from both the private and public sectors, there are a number of issues that need to be deconstructed by means of increased awareness across the country.

These issues include the mindset in which "old attitudes die hard"; the enforcement of the Sexual Offences Act, and arrests; the lack of understanding regarding the connection between gender-based violence and HIV/AIDS; and the limited support systems available to women who experience gender-based violence.

"I thought about the whole business of attitudes towards women, and the whole business of men's attitude of ownership towards a woman's body and the attitude that tends to encourage the right to 'abuse women'," said Sutherland, who also said that the issues faced by women are grounded in Jamaica's patriarchal society.

"These attitudes need to be changed," she stressed.

The United Nations Declaration on Violence Against Women outlines gender-based violence as an act that results in physical, sexual, or psychological abuse experienced by women.

Considering that services to deal with gender-based violence are fragmented, according to the report presented by Sutherland, she said they are ineffective, and the national strategic action plan is expected to improve this.

A number of recommendations were made in the presentation, including that men and boys be educated on gender-based violence as it relates to their relationships with women and girls; that what triggers stereotypes in gender socialisation needs to be identified; and that sustained monitoring and preventive education in schools, while taking a zero-tolerance approach, needs to be established.