Turning boys into feminists
Dear Editor, I thought I would share an article I came across in the online edition of the BBC news dated September 26, 2018. It is captioned, “The Rwandan school turning boys into feminists.” It is suggested reading for all Guyanese with a heavy focus on males, regardless of age. I would go so far as to recommend it for mandatory replication in our schools.
In local and regional culture, “turning boys into feminists” is sure to provoke some cringing; at the very least, it ought to be arresting. It did so for me. This timely article shares how “in a village outside Rwanda’s capital of Kigali, a group of boys are…learning how to stop genderbased violence…” And “For the boys, it is a space where they are told that it is up to men to end violence. It’s up to boys and men to report assaults and harassment.” Too often they observe and grow up with the emotional, financial, and physical abuses that were mentioned in the BBC’s coverage. Too often, nothing is said or done or known, until the final fatal episode. Whether Rwanda or Guyana, injurious cultural norms must be confronted and addressed, in spite of the resistance and the disinterest. The toll has been harrowing here; and the outlook is not so encouraging given entrenched positions, and the best efforts of dedicated groups of people. On each occasion that there is a brutal incident making the headlines, Guyanese appear lesser, more primordial. But we are not alone, or so primitive comparatively speaking.
According to another except from this BBC report, I was surprised to learn that approximately “27% of women in the UK and 25% of women in the US experience intimate partner violence in their lifetimes.” While there is recognition that some level of violence is meted out against women, this is surprising in advanced societies where women have stature and power, and many supporting mechanisms, including a responsive law enforcement presence. On the other hand, whereas the statistic in the UK and the US is one in four, it is one in three (34%) in Rwanda. It is as if this country has not had enough horrors in its recent lifetime. And this is in a country “where more than 60% of the representatives in Rwanda’s parliament are women.” It is the largest such representation in the world; and though inroads have been recorded, the
violence still persists at unacceptably high levels. For if and when 1% (or one) woman or partner lives in fear, and is subject to the mere thought of violence in the home, against the person, against a civilized existence, then that has to be considered anathematic and damning.
The world being what is that is unrealistic, and outside the realm of probability. And after the numbers from above about the UK (27%) and the US (25%) I have to wonder what is the number here in Guyana? Though there has been much light shed on this national scourge, and believed minimal advances (at least in mentalities), there is the reality that a lot of genuine abuses, however defined or measured, go unreported and unrecognized. This is, by itself, a part of the ongoing tragedy. I would like to think that what has started on a small scale in Rwanda should be given some serious consideration by the Ministry of Education for purposes of introducing in the classrooms here from the lower secondary levels and up. Our youth, particularly males, must be conditioned that the norm is neither normal nor masculine nor acceptable. It is going to require much slogging, but worth the time and energy, in view of what prevails locally. Our young girls must be prepared from an early age to be aware as to what dignifies their person, their present, and their future. Their attitude and outlook should be: Abuse is not cool, not love, not welcomed.
I think the article is worth a read. I think also that the practice is worth a try. Yours faithfully, GHK Lall