Prime Minister Samuel Hinds said the gap between tertiary educated males and females and subsequent impact on jobs, family life and relationships are among the new challenges men face.
He was speaking as Guyana joined 60 other countries to observe International Men’s Day 2012.
This year, the Men’s Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Human Services, the United Nations Population Fund and the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) organised an evening of song, dance, poetry and the launch of a new Dave Martins DVD, `If you are a man’, at the Theatre Guild Playhouse on Sunday to commemorate the Day.
According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release, Hinds said this year’s theme ‘Helping Boys and Men Live Longer, Happier and Healthier Lives’ was particularly relevant to the challenges men face in this modern era. He alluded to the huge gap in the proportion of females to males in tertiary institutions and its implications on relationships and family life, particularly with the possibility of women holding steadier and better jobs. “The new life that we are living is posing us new problems and I think particularly for us men we have to find new roles or we have to accept the new circumstances,” the prime minister said. The audience was entertained by performances by Prisoners of Purpose, Dominion Dancers, songs by Samuel Medas and the Mighty Ballack, the Police Male Voice Choir and Band, The Messengers acapella group, comedy by Allendy Henry and poems by actress Nuriyyih Gerrard.
International Men’s Day observance started in Trinidad and Tobago in 1999 and is celebrated annually on November 19. Focus is placed on men and boys’ health, promoting gender equality, improving gender relations and positive role models, discrimination against men and boys and their achievements, contributions, community involvement, family, marriage and child care.
The Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security set up the Men’s Affairs Bureau in March 2011 to support men in realising their true potential as fathers, husbands, parents and role models.
