Witter: Men needed in gender-rights fight

Jamaica's Public Defender, Earl Witter, has called for men to become greatly involved in the process of advocacy for women's rights to end gender-based violence.

Witter was speaking to a gathering of representatives from women's-rights groups and government agencies last Thursday as they sat down to dissect and improve on the national strategic action plan to eliminate gender-based violence in Jamaica.

"We need some men to be engaged, if only because the main perpetrators of gender-based violence is the male species.

"I acknowledge that it is the duty of our menfolk to take the lead in bringing an end to the scourge of gender-based violence," he said.

Gender-based violence as defined by the United Nations Declaration on Violence Against Women is an act of violence that results in physical, sexual, or psychological harm as experienced by women. The definition also outlines deprivation of freedom in both public and private life.

"(Gender-based violence) is a problem that affects the lives of women - it really is directed at women - mostly perpetrated by men. It comes with a tremendous cost. It's not just an issue of women getting beaten up ... but it does incur tremendous costs, and undercuts women's participation in development," said Violet Sutherland, gender consultant.

Sutherland also noted the connection between Jamaica's overall violence and the more specific gender-based violence.

"Research has shown that when there is an increase in the general state of violence, there is usually an increase in the gender-based violence," she said.

Incidents of gender-based violence include sexual harassment or intimidation at work or schools; forced pregnancy, forced abortion, and forced sterilisation; trafficking - of which 80 per cent of the victims are women; forced prostitution; and violence perpetrated or allowed by the State.

Approximately 180 million women across the world have also been subjected to genital mutilation.

The draft of the national strategic action plan notes that the Caribbean region has recorded among the highest occurrences in the world of gender-based violence. In addition, the 2006 Amnesty International Report, Just a Little Sex, shows that half of the young women in Jamaica were forced into their first sexual encounter. Generally, 34 per cent of all rape victims were women between the ages of 15-19 years.