“Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all women.” ― Maya Angelou
Tomorrow, 8 March, the World will observe International Women’s Day. The theme this year is, I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights. As the UN states: “The emerging global consensus is that despite some progress, real change has been agonizingly slow for the majority of women and girls in the world. Today, not a single country can claim to have achieved gender equality. Multiple obstacles remain unchanged in law and in culture.
“Women and girls continue to be undervalued; they work more and earn less and have fewer choices; and experience multiple forms of violence at home and in public spaces…legal restrictions have kept 2.7 billion women from accessing the same choice of jobs as men. Less than 25 per cent of parliamentarians were women, as of 2019. One in three women experience gender-based violence…International Women’s Day is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women, who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities.”
Yes, we want change. They say that women hold up half the world. Just look at the large number of female-headed households in TT. How many of them go to work each day worrying that there are no appropriate day care services for the children they have left behind to be cared for by neighbours, friends or relatives?
Incest, domestic violence, human trafficking, sex-ploitation, sexism, racism, economic inequality, lack of access to education and other social ills continue to keep many women and girls from realising their potential.
While our Government has responsibility for putting legislation, policies, frameworks in place to promote gender equality, the private sector and civil society – each of us, must bring to bear our voices and our “hands” to efforts to effect change. Pope Francis’ advice is sound: “Offer your…energies and your talents to building a civilisation of Christian love…commit yourself to the struggle for justice, solidarity, and peace.”
Let us pray for courage to stand up for what is right. Justice can never be achieved if each of us cocoons ourself in comfortable surroundings and ignore the plight of those who face the brunt of injustice. As Malala Yousafzai said: “I raise up my voice-not so I can shout but so that those without a voice can be heard…we cannot succeed when half of us are held back.”
Any male joker can make a child, but it takes a father to raise one. So, the fact that many women have raised children without fathers to be self-sufficient and caring citizens doesn’t undermine the virtues and critical importance of fathers’ loving care and control in the holistic development of children. There’s abundant evidence to show that female-headed households are within the lower socio-economic groups and are vulnerable to poverty and other societal ills.
UNICEF had done a Situation Analysis in collaboration with the Government in 2017, which mentioned that “women are over-represented in lower-income brackets” and that much poverty is “concentrated in households headed by women.” That report cited a larger than average household size of five for the most deprived compared to two in the wealthiest group. The national average was four children per household.
Among poor communities, there is psychological deprivation, as well as illiteracy, substandard living conditions, high exposure to addiction, crime and violence, poor parenting—lack of care and control of children, and school dropouts. The analysis indicated that apart from emotional reasons, some single mothers enter relationships for financial support. When the relationships end, there may be a “revolving door,” exposing the children to dangers. The report alluded to the intergenerational nature of poverty, and that teenage mothers were likely to have been the children of teenagers.
Teenage pregnancies were reported at 3,777 between 2014 and 2018 (JSC Parliament 17/4/19). More than likely, that figure had been underestimated if it hadn’t included private institution births.
Based on the 2011 census, of the approximately 401,382 households in T&T, the geographic distribution of female-head households was wide-ranging from 45 per cent in Port of Spain, Juan/Laventille 40 per cent, San Fernando 38 per cent, Diego Martin 37 per cent, Tunapuna/Piarco 36 per cent to Sangre Grande 31 per cent, Chaguanas 31 per cent, Siparia 30 per cent, Couva/Talparo/Tabaquite 26 per cent, and Penal/Debe 24 per cent etc. An updated census isn’t likely to show much change in those statistics.
In another report, the Children’s Authority mentioned that crime and delinquency might start with children in primary school (nine–11 years) more so boys. Notably, the most delinquent acts of children “take place within the school,” mainly fighting, but there is a “high prevalence of sexual victimization.”
We see the images every day of mostly youth of African descent charged for murders and other violent crimes. These are alarming truths, and there’s an increasing trend. Although, the number of them is still very small, under one per cent of their population. Critical interventions are needed. There is the outrage about education inequity and calls to do away with the Concordat, which is the agreement between the Government and the denominational schools that allows the Government to fill 80 per cent of the places in these schools based on Secondary School Assessment (SEA) grades. There’s a constant focus on the 20 per cent, not 80 per cent. But the Concordat gave most children, whose parents wouldn’t have been able to afford high school fees, the opportunity to attend the best performing schools. If they reverted to private fee-based status, there would be a dire shortage of places for thousands of children. That isn’t to say there may not be issues in the selection of the 80 per cent.
Historically, most of the students who had achieved higher grades had attended single-sex denominational schools. In the girls’ schools, the teachers are mostly female; in some, 100 per cent. In the boys’ there is a balance of male and female teachers. Student violence and disruptions are minimal and manageable. Drop-out rates are next to zero. These schools strictly enforce policies, and parents and students have no option but to adhere to the rules. There’s excellent student engagement through teacher/student bonding, proper maintenance of the physical environment, reinforcement of traditional values of discipline, caring, respectfulness, and excellence among staff and students. School boards are committed, and parents support the schools.
The Government and the Ministry of Education are aware of the complex issues of crime, education, and social inequity. They have the research reports, and MOE’s had identified its failings in the Draft Education Policy.
The answer to inequity in education rests with the MOE’s ability to ensure sound management of government schools and to make them all desired choices for children. Strategic interventions to shut down the engine rooms of crime, and to transform the education system, ensuring that no child’s learning needs are neglected are needed, now. That would require legislative changes to the education system that’s caught in a colonial time warp.
First Published in the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian Newspapers
