EVEN though Guyana’s fight for equal rights between the sexes has come a long way, President David Granger believes that more can and must be done to fulfill its obligations to the United Nations (UN)-led Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“We have to change our attitude to gender equality. I do believe we can do so by creating an

educated nation, by ensuring every girl-child completes primary and secondary school,” he said Wednesday.

“We can move much further by removing the barriers to gender equality by ensuring that geographical, occupational, political and racial differences are diminished,” he told invitees to an International Women’s Day (IWD) function hosted by the Ministry of Social Protection at the Police Officers Training Centre at Eve Leary.
He believes that women can be empowered in many ways, like being given more opportunity to represent their communities, or be on committees, commissions and councils.
“Guyana is committed to fulfilling its obligations under Sustainable Development Goal #5,” he said. “We can, we must and we will achieve greater gender equality to empower our women and girls. The struggle for equality and parity continues.”
He said that for starters, Guyana’s approach is to make gender equality a parallel policy of his government.

“Gender equality cannot be achieved in the absence of a more equal society,” the President said. “Enforcement of legislation to protect women against abuse and to promote greater equality; the disparities between hinterland and coastland and between rural and urban communities for example must be reduced.
“The second front is education. Gender equality can be achieved mainly by ensuring unimpeded access to education; education will open opportunities for women.”
He is also of the opinion that more women in the workforce can help to break the vicious cycle of poverty.

“Poor people produce poor children, and poor children, in turn, produce more poor children,” he reasoned. “It is a vicious cycle of hereditary poverty. The burden of poverty falls heavily on women; the vicious cycle of poverty can be broken in order to create a virtuous cycle of gender equality.”

MORE JOBS
And one way of doing that is by creating jobs to ensure that poor women have sustainable incomes, and a chance of exiting that cycle of poverty. Again, by empowering women, the President said, women can take their rightful role in the political decision-making process. Not only that, he strongly believes that through empowerment, women can continue to assume leadership roles in their communities, and the country as a whole.

Minister of Social Protection, Ms Amna Ally feels the same way as the President does where the importance of gender equality and the positive impact it can have on society is concerned; that by closing gender gaps, poverty and hunger can be reduced.
And again, like President Granger, Minister Ally feels that even though the issue of gender equality has indeed come a long way, both globally and locally, yet women the world over continue to face many challenges in the world of work.
She said her ministry will do whatever it takes to help women become economically independent, in spite of such hindrances as gender-based violence.

“Gender-based violence is a serious problem in Guyana; inequality between men and women is the greatest human challenge we face today,” Minister Ally said, adding that the government remains committed to promoting gender equality, and will work to achieve a country where women and girls are protected against violence, Trafficking in Persons (TIP) and other social ills.

ON THE SAME PAGE
First Lady, Mrs Sandra Granger, is on the same page as both the President and Minister Ally where women and development is concerned.
Speaking at a symposium held under the theme, “Women in the Changing World of Work…,” Mrs Granger, who has long been an advocate for women’s rights, said it cannot be denied that there have been advancements over the years; that women have moved well beyond the traditional roles of daughter, wife and mother, cooking, cleaning, caring for the children, farming and so on.

“They have not abandoned those roles, and today, women are visible in almost every sector of society; they play a vital role in the social, economic and political development of our country,” she said, adding: “There is no holding us back.”
Women, she said, make up half of the global labour force and represent 70 per cent of the global consumption demand and as such must be seen and voices must be heard.
The theme she reminded, calls for equal participation in the work place by 2030 and is coherent with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goals 4, 5, 7, 10 and 16.
“Women and girls comprise over 50 per cent of the population of Guyana, so we are, in a sense, ideally placed to demand equality,” said the First Lady, who, like her husband, made the point that the key to parity is education.

“Our women and girl-children must be given equal access to education, at all levels, in order to enter the workforce and meaningfully participate in national development,” she said.
“This means that a social net must be established, so that the eldest girl-child in a single-parent household does not have to drop out of school to look after her siblings while her mother goes to work.
“It means that teenage mothers can continue their schooling while they are pregnant and return to school after delivery to continue their education, without fear of stigma and discrimination. Our teachers and school administrators will need to suspend moral judgment and be trained to deal with these children in a sensitive way,” the First Lady stressed.
She is also of the opinion that women and girl-children must know that they are protected by law from physical and psychological abuse.

“Our entire population; men and women, boys and girls, rural and urban, from the coastland and the hinterland must be made aware that gender-based violence will not be tolerated or trivialised,” she said, adding:
“It is a criminal offence; it is no joke to be on the receiving end of such abuse.”
She continued: “Our women and girls who are trafficked for sex work or labour must know that the perpetrators will be brought to justice, and that they will not only be forced to pay compensation to the victims, but will also be jailed for their crime. The victims must also know that they will receive the support they need to overcome their physical and psychological trauma.”
Mrs. Granger also charged all women to continue to speak up for their rights, and demand equality.