Dear Editor,

For me, International Women’s Day was an occasion for reflecting on the state of the women’s movement here in Guyana. As I did this, I thought of the number of crucial times on which the women of this nation provided commendable leadership to the common citizens of this country, in our long and continuing fight for equal rights and justice. I think of those whom we remember as the Enmore Martyrs who faced the guns of the colonial masters, their only demand being a desire for better working conditions and a livable wage. Of the women on the Corentyne who placed their bodies on the line, as they faced up to the guns of a government, made up of their fellow Guyanese, which was determined to take away from them their democratic right to have a government of their own choice. I think of our nurses who faced a police force to make a stand for their right to better working conditions and a decent salary − all this at a time when we were being encouraged to celebrate ‘a return to democracy.’ As I think of these things I can’t help but feel a deep sense of indebtedness and shame at my own meagre contribution to the fight for justice and decency in this country.

Possibly, because of our women’s strong and admirable history, I felt sure that women, through their various organizations, would have been loud in their condemnation of some of the responses to Ms Varshnie Singh’s disclosure that she was subjected to “high tech” abuse and/or harassment by the President who we were led to believe was her husband. This absence of a strong condemnation in some of the responses to what Ms Singh said, I could only conclude meant that our various women’s groups missed the possible serious implication of these responses. For example a former female minister of the present government was asked as she entered parliament to comment on the revelations of Ms Singh. With an attitude seemingly intended to give the reporters a feeling that their question was petty, she responded that she didn’t comment on people’s private and personal affairs, or words to that effect.

The suggestion that commenting on an allegation of wrongdoing committed in the privacy of one’s home, constitutes denying the wrongdoer his/her ‘right’ to privacy is ridiculous. One’s right to anything is dependent on whether or not that right impinges on someone else’s right. Thus no man has a right to abuse his wife or any woman publicly or privately and plead that it is a private and personal matter, thus no-one should interfere.

While I am disappointed in the silence of our men on this issue, I am even more disappointed in our women’s silence, since I suspect they are more affected by acts of spousal abuse. Also I am disappointed because of what I said above about their history of militancy above. A ‘Stamp it out’ campaign cannot succeed if politicians, in their haste to show their loyalty to their leader, say things that could undermine the mobilization of citizens to fight against abuse, whether physical or emotional, of any of our citizens. This issue is too serious for petty political games.

One of the possible consequences of silence on such statements by persons with political authority is that it could influence how citizens behave. On hearing what this politician had to say, and there being no criticism of same, women who are being abused might feel there is no sense in trying to seek help from the police or the Ministry of Human Services. And in a way one could understand such behaviour, especially if one read the story of Kalwantie Kumar who, along with her six-month-old baby was beaten with a piece of wood by her ex-husband. In the SN report of March 25, we were told that repeated reports had been made to the police about the suspect, but no action had been taken. Some question here would be, why do we continuously hear complaints of police not responding to reports of domestic violence?

Why even when they respond, the abused party usually tells us that the police merely laughed and told them (the abused woman and her partner) to make up? Is it that the police know that in some corridors of power there is this concept of spousal abuse being a private and personal matter?

Yours faithfully,
Claudius Prince