RECENT events would indicate that women continue to experience inequality in the workplace. The usual manifestations of this inequality between men and women in the workplace are disparities in levels of remuneration between male and female colleagues; the absence of women in senior roles and more worryingly, the prevalence of different forms of harassment perpetrated against women in the workplace.

For the purpose of this editorial, we shall focus on harassment perpetrated against women in the workplace. Recent events bring into focus just how far we as a society have come when we look at the role of women in society and more specifically, women in the workplace. During the recent elections, we saw unprecedented attacks on the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and its Chairperson, retired Justice Claudette Singh.

Over the months preceding the March 2 Regional and General elections, GECOM and its staff came under tremendous scrutiny with commentators speculating on the agency’s readiness to conduct free, fair, credible and transparent elections, particularly, at this stage of Guyana’s socio-economic development and against the backdrop of the protracted court battles pertaining to the no- confidence motion. Under the leadership of Justice Singh and in collaboration with the Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield, the regional and general elections were conducted with relative ease on March 2 2020.

Events that transpired during the course of the counting and tabulation exercise conducted by GECOM, as directed by the procedures in the Representation of the People Act, were, for all intents and purposes, derailed on the night of Wednesday, March 5, following the criminal invasion of GECOM by the opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C). During the said invasion, Justice Singh was barricaded in her office as the invaders executed their plot. The Guyana Police Force was disorganised and ineffective in its management of the ruckus and the chairperson’s office was breached by the mob. Whilst it remains unclear exactly what transpired after the office was breached, it is sufficient to conclude that the honourable Justice’s safety and security had been aggressively compromised by an armed, angry and aggressive group of men. This occurring whilst the chairperson was undertaking the rightful execution of her duties as our Constitution requires. This incident, on its own, is a perfect example of the inequalities that exist between men and women in the workplace and the subordinate and vulnerable position women are often relegated to assume.

In a further unbelievable display of toxic masculinity within the work environment and during this elections period, Carol Smith-Joseph, the Region Five representative for the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition government was physically assaulted by Jonathan Yearwood, Finance Secretary of A New and United Guyana (ANUG). In a video captured by reporters on the scene, Yearwood can be seen and heard vociferously addressing members of GECOM who were undertaking their duties. Yearwood then storms out of the room and was then confronted by Smith-Joseph whom he pushed away and who was subsequently restrained by a rank attached to the Guyana Police Force. The confrontation occurred at GECOM’s Command Centre High and Hadfield Streets, during a tabulation exercise.

Female media operatives have also endured their fair share of intimidation, verbal threats and threats of physical violence during the post-elections period, while attempting to perform their duties. As a result, the Guyana Press Association issued several statements strongly condemning this sort of behaviour.

Outside of the elections arena, we have had incidents where female ministers have been attacked by male colleagues and party supporters, most infamously, the threat by PPP/C supporters to topple Dr Karen Cummings’ car; this was led by PPP presidential candidate Irfaan Ali.

Outside of the political arena, there are other incidents of note, which further highlight the disparity between the treatment of men and women in the workplace here in Guyana. Only recently, there was a case at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation where a female member of staff was allegedly asked to remove her clothing to prove that she was menstruating; the incident was investigated by the GPHC and it was found that the director of nursing, who purportedly issued the order to search the nursing staff, was not liable. The examples used in this editorial are not isolated incidents. They are representative of much bigger issues in Guyana, especially as it relates to women’s rights and violence against women, which form part of the bigger issue of violence within our society. Nonetheless, the attacks on our female colleagues cannot be ignored. To do so would be to legitimise the unlawful behaviour of the aggressors, something we simply cannot allow to happen.