This past week Dominica has been set ablaze by the sentencing of three young men who sexually abused several minors. Although this news comes as a surprise to many, I am not surprised nor amused. These recent incidents highlight the degree of gender inequality that exists in the Caribbean region.
In this article, I would like the reader to take at a look at the bigger picture and not the individual incidents that serve to elucidate the unequal treatment of women and girls in the Caribbean.
While the population has debated on harsher sentencing for these men, we fail to realize that we harbor a societal structure that perpetuates these very injustices daily.
Our leadership structures resemble a male hierarchy. While I agree that harsher sentencing may not deter all men from committing these acts, it would certainly be a step in the right direction.
More importantly, we should address increased financial and social support through revision of the child support Act which would help single working mothers provide care for their children thereby preventing child sexual abuse. In the past 15 years, we have signed a number of memorandums of understanding to assist in the economic development of our island. We have even amended laws so that hotels would be built in protected forested areas of the island. Certainly, changing the laws to protect our young girls is equally important as social development must proceed alongside economic development.
As Caribbean people, we also need to change our attitudes both as men and women to help eliminate these abuses. Our definition of “Manhood” in the Caribbean is largely dependent on a male’s sexual prowess. A teenage male once informed me that he would be “the man” if he announced at school that he had lost his virginity. A friend once referred to a homosexual male as a “waste of a man”. We can’t continue to define our humanity by our sexuality. We are so much more than what lies between our thighs.
Popular culture in the Caribbean has helped to degrade the black Caribbean female body. Most genres of popular Caribbean music including soca, dancehall and reggae eroticize the black Caribbean female body. Music videos frequently feature scantily clad Caribbean women in very erotic positions, some videos can be regarded as pornographic. The lyrics commonly instruct women to shake, twerk, “six-thirty”. It has become popular culture to dance like strippers. This helps to objectify the
Caribbean woman and remove any degree of dignity and decency that she may possess as a woman.
The mission to achieve gender equality is not helped during the carnival season and throughout the year by the incessant pageantry. The Dominican pageants extend from Princess, Teenage, Queen, Miss Pleasantly plump and beautiful to the Ms. Mayfest and Ms. Green Gala. It is clear that we are teaching young women to focus “beauty” and external validation while teaching men to objectify and eroticize young women. While we are able to persuade 5-7 young ladies per pageant to represent their communities in these pageants and modeling competitions, we only had 6/42 female candidates in the 2014 general election.
Clearly, these pageants are not producing female leadership at the national level. This under-representation of women at the national level will continue to leave the issues which affect the daily lives of girls and women unaddressed.
These acts of sexual misconduct only represent some of the challenges that women and girls in the Caribbean face on a daily basis. Other issues which need to be addressed include sexual harassment in the workplace, denigration of female candidates on the political platform and unequal pay.
I hope this will start a conversation about gender inequality in Dominica and throughout the Caribbean so that all women and girls can thrive.
Lisa Jolly is a Dominican and family physician living in St. Croix.
Extremely well written. The sad fact is that it is so true
This is indeed food for thought and a very informative article. Thanks Miss Jolly, this was a good read.
Great commentary.
Gender inequalities are the crux of this bigger picture. Not only in Dominica, but Caribbean wide.
Less beauty pageants and more about intellectualism and intelligence amongst both genders.
Excellent article and well written Dr. Jolly.
This is a remarkable perspective on this matter. It’s a much bigger picture. While learning other cultures is important our girls and ladies have developed a propensity for foreign features and characteristics. This level of compromise has diluted what s genuinely Dominican. Our men have developed lots of immoral traits that negatively affect their attitudes towards women such as display of gross disrespect, nudity, among others. The mothers have given up on themselves and their children.
The essence of this article is consistent with how I understand this problem. Notwithstanding, punishment for crimes committed is in principle intended for the the protection of society and to make restitution to victims.. Given that social formation of our citizens ( i.e. the conditioning of individuals male or female as to their respective roles in the social order), I am not entirely convinced that we can legislate the desired transformation of attitudes and general behavioral patterns.
The longest journey starts with a single step. Therefore we have to begin to change the rules of the game where ever we are to convey what is acceptable and what is not; at home, the neighbourhood, community and all institutions; local religious and state
Most extraordinary compository and commentary , miss Jolly . It’s full of substance , weight and soberness, that speaks deep down to our hearts , both genders here . Thank you for sharing , and please note , it is worthy of the archives . Let’s hope, it will be adapted as a type of road map and a guide towards improving our lives . Thank you , once again
This is such a fascinating perspective! Excellent points made in this article; I would underscore that in addition to insufficient representation among women in national leadership, the voices of the few that are there are woefully silent on critical gender issues.
We have heard calls about the speaker of the house failing to spearhead any initiative to bring sexual abuse to the priority of the government. Many have wondered what role the coalition of women plays in this. They have been a bit too quiet on this issue as well. Finally, we have mothers, teachers (mostly female), and nurses (mostly female) on the front lines of this issue, but who also keep quiet and cover up instances of abuse when these women often are very vocal and active in other matters.
The intersection of religion, economics, and power in fueling abuse of women and children is nothing new. Neither are the solutions that other countries have undertaken to bring about change! All we need is the will of the…
WOW Am very impressed with this article am just hoping that our leaders will take hid.
we need more voices like this one.
thanks for taking the time out to address this epidemic we are faced with.
For “hid” you probably meant “heed.” I share your sentiments re the article.
I knew this would touch some nerves. It is about time someone realized the way forward is the empowerment of women. The only thing you forgot to mention my sister is that religion is the main culprit responsible for why men view women the way they do. It is the bible that places women in the same category as an ox, an ass, a house & a slave.
Great article and perspective. The issue has been there long. I think today more people are speaking out and brave enough to fight the victims stigma. This is a cultural problem and requires both legislation and education of our young men and women. No means no. Women should value themselves. We have to stress values from young. Time for action.
Very good article. There needs to be a shift in the way that we think of ourselves as human beings and the way that we treat each other. Education ( and I am not just speaking about academics) is so vital.
I also think that child abuse of any kind is terrible. I think that flowing from the same patriarchal way that we view sex and sexuality, we may be victimizing the victims even more by the way that we respond to the cases of abuse. While I am not denying the harmful effect of child sexual or in any way trivializing child sexual abuse, I think that it is not helping the victim by saying that the perpetrators ‘ spoilt/ruined the child”. We are all the sum of our experiences-good and bad. What is most important is the way that we choose to deal with those difficulties. The perpetrators should definitely be punished and the victims assisted to overcome the difficulties which they are faced with, with support and compassion from those around them.
How did sentencing of these men and our need of law reform become an gender equality issue. I think the protection of our Children not just young women should be the BIG Picture. You Fail with this DNO
Oh please well write it better,she touched on all the subjects thats affecting our young ladies.
what you fail to realize is that young boys are being sexually abused too. It’s not just young ladies.
How about the young men? Have they been edited out of the script, making the compository a suppository?
Lady, enough respect but this is not just a gender issue. This is a a problem affecting everyone, boys too! I really can not stand people using a serious issue like this to drive their own gender agenda. I have sisters, a mother, aunties I respect and love and believe me, in Dominica they are mostly stronger than men, they run things and good luck to them but do not use this to promote a feminist agenda. You know who are left hanging behind in Dominica today? yes, especially young men! We are all equal, none better than the other in the Good Lord’s eyes.
It is a gender issue by virtue of the very fact that most of the perpetrators are male. Why is it that most of the perpetrators are from one gender and not the other. Does that in itself not make it a gender issue?
It is also a gender issue because many if not most of the perpetrators were raised in households where they witnessed abuse perpetrated by adult males and may have themselves been abused. Is that not a gender issue?
Women in most cases decide who they will have children with, carry boys, nurse them and play a significant part in who they will become as men. Women are more powerful and in a sense more responsible than maybe they themselves appreciate.
Because boys do not come forward doesn’t mean the crimes are being committed. It comes back to the notion of being a man. If a boy is charmed by a woman he is not viewed as a victim,but as lucky, as a champion, as a man. See the double standard
you are contradicting yourself. the points you made indicate to me that it is not a gender issue. None of this is specific to any gender.
Let there be no misunderstanding, the abuse of others, especially sexual abuse of minors is heinous. However, I have as much tolerance and time for misogyny (hate of women) as I have for misandry (hate of men). Absolutely none, nada, a big fat 0!
We should address the issue at hand and not divert into a debate as to which gender is worse or better, superior or inferior or more likely to offend.
PS. Don’t forget, men get abused too. Right now there is a case before the courts in the U.K. of two soldiers being accused of raping a young man.
Feminist agenda? God, people like you are idiots. Feminism is designed to give women equal rights to men–equal opportunities, a lack of discrimination based on gender. It is not about curtailing men’s rights; it is about giving women rights they have traditionally lacked or currently do not have. Feminism empowers everyone. I don’t see anywhere in the article where the author denies the existence or rights of men.
Men have so much privilege in society already. Why are you so threatened by the empowerment of women? Are you afraid we will–dare I say it–be equal to you one day, that you will no longer be on top? Men like you make me sick. You are the reason we need feminism.
that is what feminism is supposed to do but it is not what is in practice at all in fact the exact oppossite
Being a gender issue does not mean that one gender is better then another. This is not a ‘hate on men issue”. You cannot deny that most of these crimes are being committed by men..against both little boys and little girls. Some of these men end up in prison. We may never fully understand why some men turn into pedophiles but many of them had disturbed childhoods, themselves. We have to look at changing the way we raise boys and what we teach them while they are growing up. Gender is masculine gender, feminine gender and all of the in-betweens. There are societies where gender is broader than just masculine and feminine.
That Article is so right, keep writing my dear . You are so right,
Dr. Jolly I could sense the passion in your piece. I agree with you 100%.