— among recommendations in WGEC report

MEN and women are not separate, said Speaker of the National Assembly, Dr. Barton Scotland, who contended that the strength of one enhances the strength of the other.
Dr. Scotland shared the view after receiving a report on gender and equality from a research conducted by the Women and Gender Equality Commission (WGEC) on Tuesday.
The report looked at laws and conventions Guyana has signed on to, and made recommendations geared at improving gender equality in Guyana.

The report was later named “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”.
WGEC Chairperson, Indranie Chandarpal, said the research was initiated last year and consultations were held, allowing stakeholders an opportunity to make recommendations.
The commission, she said, was waiting on a significant opportunity to make the document public.

“We thought what other time than the week of International Women’s Day. And because of all the other things that are taking place, we thought that it would be useful, once our Speaker concurs,” Chandarpaul said.

Giving some insight into the report, she said that there are a lot of patriarchal and societal values, traditions and norms that still exist, and they interfere with progressive movement in terms of improving gender equality.

As such, the report made reference to some of these values affecting progress and made 28 recommendations to address them.

The report first has to be approved in the House before it is made public, and as such, the WGEC chairperson was not at liberty to share the full details of the report.
However, she disclosed that one of their recommendations is to produce a harmonised code of law on women’s rights.

“There should be a book that contains all laws protecting women, but set out as a code. The code should be harmonised with international law obligations and with other national laws to ensure that there are no gaps in the protection afforded to women,” Chandarpal said.

Another recommendation, she said, is one that addresses sexual harassment.
“Sexual harassment must be dealt with. A sexual harassment policy should be instituted at all places of work and educational institutions as well. An immediate action would be to have all the employers publish the following statement; ‘Sexual harassment at work place is forbidden’. Employees who engage in sexual harassment are liable to disciplinary action, including dismissal,” she expressed.

Another important recommendation is the provision of access to justice for rural women by having mobile courts.

Dr. Scotland said he was pleased to receive the report which will be made public in due course.