–Mrs. Sita Nagamootoo tells Tain symposium

THE Tain Campus of the University of Guyana was transformed into a sea of orange as the fourth year Social Work students held a walk and symposium in observance of ‘International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women’.

The colour orange is in keeping with the UN Secretary-General’s Campaign, ‘Unite to End Violence against Women’, which has declared the 25th of each month as “Orange Day” — a day to raise awareness of, and to take action to end, violence against women and girls, as opposed to an annual day.

The students earlier staged a walk to help raise awareness about violence against women, and several messages were promoted via posters and banners. Messages were also delivered verbally as the students, accompanied by members of the public, marched in the Port Mourant community to the Tain Campus.

The keynote address was delivered by Mrs. Sita Nagamootoo, who got the gathering riled up as she called for “an end to the silence”. She noted that violence against women was not a random act, as many may perceive it to be, but was rather a product of societal and cultural structures.

“We should at all times promote and advocate against violence directed at women at all levels. We need to end the silence. Violence against women is not confined to any one culture, religion, country, or any one group of people; but rather it is widespread across all ages, cultures, religions, social, economic and educational levels.”

Mrs. Nagamootoo disclosed that, according to studies, more than eight trillion United States’ Dollars, which represent about 10% of the world’s GDP, are spent annually on violence against women. This sum, she stressed, can be used to make the world a better place.

“The world can truly be a better place with the end of violence against women and girls. The world will save trillions of dollars, which can be better used for the healthy development of our women and girls, by empowering them to be equal partners in life.

“We need to start at the root of the problem, and create a new culture in which women are treated as equals to men. We need to educate our boys to respect girls, and empower our girls through education, and change the way we perceive each gender. We need to prevent early child marriages, and give our girls an opportunity to educate themselves and to gain access to skills and training to reverse economic inequality among genders. We need to demand equal pay for women in all sectors of employment. We need to demand strict enforcement of laws, such as (the) Domestic Violence Act, to punish those guilty of acts of violence, whether it is physical, emotional or economic, committed against our women.

“We must protect the human rights of our women by ensuring that our health care workers respect women’s rights and allow them to make their own decisions.”

She concluded her message by getting everyone to repeat after her the following words: “Human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights.”

The UN, on December 20, 1993, made a declaration to end violence against women; and in 1999, the UN General Assembly declared November 25 International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Current statistics provided by the UN shows that one in three women is still a victim of some form of violence, which translates to approximately 1.2 billion women worldwide.