By Vidyaratha Kissoon
Vidyaratha Kissoon is involved in the work for gender equality
Stopping Violence against Women and Girls without Gender Equality?
The Government of Guyana and its donor partners launched a pledge on 8 December 2021 for the Community Advocates Network to end violence against women and girls. The pledge is intended to engage people in breaking the cycle of violence against women and girls, and to encourage people to speak up. Recognition of the endemic nature of this violence is an important step.
However, the pledge does not talk about gender equality, or accountability for the Government, or any of the other issues which create the environment which enables violence against women and girls and other forms of gender-based violence.
Furthermore, it seems the Government has adopted approaches which can cause more harm and trap survivors of gender-based violence. The pledge removes any responsibility for dealing with the structural inequalities and systemic abuses which nurture gender-based violence, and leaves the resolution to the survivors themselves.
Re-writing the pledge
A re-writing of the pledge is necessary to hold the Government – this applies all those who were elected to represent Guyanese in parliament – and others accountable as well as recognising the actions needed for personal and social change.
Instead of
● I CAN listen to those experiencing violence with empathy
Pledge
● I CAN insist that every region of Guyana has quality services for survivors and that there are qualified and competent people who can listen to survivors with empathy and respect.
● I CAN insist that the Government must pay the transportation for counsellors and others to assist survivors rather than people having to use their scarce funds to pay taxis for police, social workers etc.
Instead of
● I CAN break the silence on violence against women and girls!
Pledge
● I CAN recognise that gender-based violence is as a result of gender inequality.
● I CAN work for gender equality.
● I CAN hold the Government and other state actors accountable in working towards gender equality
Instead of
● I CAN educate myself on and share resources available for survivors
Pledge
● I CAN call on the Government to insist that the schools and other educational institutions are teaching comprehensive sexuality education and about gender equality and prevention of gender-based violence.
● I CAN access resources from places like Help & Shelter and other NGOs to share.
● I CAN demand that the Government also provides information and resources across the communities and in public settings like police stations and health centres.
Instead of
● I CAN consider how my own behaviours contribute to violence against women and girls.
Pledge
● I CAN stop beating children and I CAN call on parents and teachers to stop beating children.
● I CAN challenge sexual harassment on the street and in the workplace, the objectification of women in the media and in culture and
● I CAN promote equality and respect.
● I CAN learn about gender equality.
Instead of
● I CAN take informed action to prevent and report violence to the police
Pledge:
● I CAN call on the Government to let the public know what they expect from the police, and who to call when the police are not helping.
● I CAN call on the Government to go through division by division to review how the police are dealing with cases. The police must be accountable.
Instead of
● I CAN call 914 to report violence against women and girls
Pledge
● I CAN let others know about the hotlines available. In addition to the 914, the National Coordinating Coalition has a hotline service Call, Message or WhatsApp 628-7833 or 637-3319 Help & Shelter has 24 hr hotline numbers 613 1758, 613 1811.
● I CAN call on the Government to say what people should do when the 914 is ringing out or not working.
● I CAN call on the Government to make the 911 police number WORK.
Instead of
● I CAN learn to use effective conflict resolution techniques to solve problems and not resort to violent behaviour
Pledge
● I CAN hold abusers accountable for their behaviour.
● I CAN reject the idea that domestic violence and gender-based violence are ‘conflict gone rong’, since domestic violence and intimate partner violence consist of a pattern of abusive behaviours designed to show power and control, often with support from the police, religion, family and other systems.
● I CAN encourage survivors to learn safety planning and to learn the skills and attitudes needed to protect themselves from abusers while not causing harm to themselves or anyone else.
● I CAN and I will call out any person who says that men are provoked into abusing women and girls and use that as an excuse to say that men are victims of the women and girls they are abusing and of the system that is trying to hold them accountable.
● I CAN support victims and survivors of violence when they reach out to me
● I CAN support victims and survivors by listening to them, not blaming them, sharing information, but accompanying them to the hospital or to the police or any counselling service or by holding space for them.
● I CAN recognise when I feel frustrated and make sure that the victim or survivor has access to quality services for support and healing.
and Pledge in addition
● I CAN challenge all the religious beliefs which say women must submit to men and that they must forgive the abuser and give a second chance and so on.
● I CAN challenge the alcohol culture, recognising that there is a link between alcohol consumption and the intensity of domestic violence experienced in our society.
● I CAN call for funds to support groups and organisations that are trying to provide support.
● I CAN call for a re-focus of the Spotlight Initiative and other funding away from consultancies like “strategic plan for the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security’ (doesn’t the Government have those skills within it?) to provide funds easily to those who have to pay credit, transportation, money to buy goods and groceries, to pay medical bills for survivors of gender-based violence.
● I CAN call on the Government and its donor partners to release all aggregated data and information related to gender-based violence.
● I CAN call on the Government to co-ordinate in an open and transparent manner all the work being done to deal with violence against women and Girls.
● I CAN call for transformative healing spaces in all communities for the men who are abusing women and to ensure those who are abusive pose no harm to anyone else or themselves.
● I CAN recognise that work with abusers will be difficult and expensive work and that funds for survivors should not be lessened to provide that work. Other sources of funds could be the alcohol industry or the oil and gas industry.
● I CAN call on the police and justice system to order that perpetrators of abuse (and their relatives and friends who bail them out) start the journey of transformation, regardless of whether the survivor is pursuing any legal matter.
● I CAN recognise that working against gender-based violence is one action which is about transforming how we as human beings relate to each other and how we live in our natural environment.
