ABUSED women carry the scars from their wounds until they die, but a largely unfeeling, insensitive public often callously, figuratively say “Get over it already”, implying her traumas are a bore, without recognising that they are adding to her relentless and enduring pain.
It takes great courage for a woman to publicly reveal that she was abused.
Effective leadership is about recognising the weaknesses and travails of citizens, and transforming their lives by addressing their problems, issues and concerns, without criticising them, saying that they are delinquent or problematic in any way, thereby adding to their degraded self-esteem and depleted emotional energies, which consequences a multiplicity of additional problems, including the deterioration of the victim’s physical and mental health.
Leaders and policy-makers should empathise with the various travails women endure in a male-dominated society, then address and represent, in empowerment paradigms, all facets of the nuances of a society that generally, as a norm, with rare exceptions, puts the strengths and capabilities of women in almost every sphere of endeavour on trial.
This societal scourge does not recognise boundaries or borders and proliferate in global societies, even first-world countries.
Within the Guyanese landscape, there is need for a review of all the laws that will encourage and promote women’s rights and equality, with legislation effecting zero tolerance on domestic violence. This is the bane that cuts across every divide of ethnicity, religion, culture or class.

The Sexual Offences Act 2010 stipulates that a sexual offence is any sexual violation on an individual that includes rape, and any other form of sexual assault, such as touching or causing the complainant to touch a third party in a sexual way.

The Sexual Offences Act 2010, passed by the National Assembly on April 22, 2010, provides prosecutorial rights against perpetrators by their victims, particularly women and children, and assures protection from law-enforcement institutions against sexual molestation and abuse, and every type of sexual violation.

The Sexual Offences Act 2010 places special emphasis on women and children, who are usually the most vulnerable to sexual abuse. With this Bill all the penalties for such crimes are clearly defined.

The Equal Rights Act 1990 (Cap. 38:03) (No. 19 of 1990) “Provides that women and men have equal rights and the same legal status in all spheres of political, economic and social life and that all forms of discrimination against women or men on the basis of their sex or marital status are illegal. Women and men shall be paid equal remuneration for the same work or work of the same nature and no person shall be ineligible for, or discriminated against in respect of any employment, appointment or promotion in, or to, any office or position on the ground of sex: Provides that an employer shall not be prevented from making special labour and health protection measures for women, or from making provisions for conditions enabling mothers to work or for material and moral support for mothers and children including paid leave and other benefits for mothers and expectant mothers: Made under Art. 29 of the Constitution.”

However, this Constitutional diktat is often honoured in the breach.

Male protagonists need to realise that when they demolish and devastate their life partners by inflicting pain and degradation on their spouses/partners, who are their strongest support systems and that of their children, they consequently destroy family constructs and, as a natural progression, these destructive relationships often produce juvenile delinquents and dysfunctional adults.

Despite requisite legislation having been enacted to protect women, and many policies and programmes formulated, specific to the education and empowerment of women, yet the scourge remains rooted in the socio-psychology of the nation.

It takes great courage for a woman to stand up at a public forum and admit to allowing, and maybe even enabling the abuse and degradation of herself at the hands of someone who should have protected her instead; but if the males in society would be brought to the recognition, as an imperative, that their strengths should be used for protecting instead of abusing their families, then every woman in Guyana should take hope for the resurrection of family ideals and the strengthening of familial bonds – with reciprocal and mutual respect, trust and love being the bonding factors.