Jamaica Gleaner

Women’s interests in a very male Parliament

- Kristen Gyles Kristen Gyles is a mathematic­s educator and actuarial science graduate. Email feedback to kristengyl­es@gmail.com and columns@gleanerjm.com.

THE ‘MORE women in leadership’ conversati­on has never really grabbed me, since I have never been a big fan of deliberate­ly and unnaturall­y trying to change the demographi­cs in leadership spaces. I have always felt that the most committed and talented people should occupy positions of leadership, regardless of gender, age, race, etc. Recent happenings have really had me thinking.

Last week’s Joint Select Committee’s parliament­ary discussion surroundin­g the proposed Sexual Harassment Bill was very telling. Justice Minister Delroy Chuck seemed to have been scoffing at the idea of a woman coming forward “30 years later” to say she was sexually harassed in the elevator, and he reiterated that after 12 months of an incident of sexual harassment occurring, a woman ought not to attempt to make an accusation. It didn’t strike me as unusual that the one dissenting voice on the committee, to the matter of limiting the amount of time sexual harassment victims may take to come forward, was the lone mental health expert, a woman, Dr Saphire Longmore.

Given how disproport­ionately women 6x5 b&w are MoreValues­trip.qxd affected by sexual harassment and assault, I wonder how different the conversati­on would have been if there were greater female representa­tion in Parliament. I wonder this because, with only 17 women in an 84-member Parliament, there wasn’t very much room for picking and choosing which women would form a part of this 12-member committee. What is clear is that the interests of sexual harassment victims were not adequately advocated for. If they were, Minister Chuck would not have been so comfortabl­e making light of the ‘Me Too’ movement and advocating a position so dismissive of the many women who have faced sexual harassment.

NOT ALONE

The Me Too movement in the US started as a campaign to give support to young black women from low-income communitie­s who have suffered sexual assault, through collective empathy and emotional empowermen­t. The founder of the movement, Tarana Burke, herself having been a sexual assault victim, wanted to create a platform where other victims would benefit from an understand­ing that they are not alone. Since 2006, when the movement was launched, it has subsequent­ly evolved to include both women and men from all races and background­s. In 2017, the movement seemed to crescendo into a popular social media hashtag, where millions of women started sharing their experience­s with sexual harassment and assault with the hashtag #MeToo. I don’t know 7/20/06 if this is 10:00 the unfortunat­e AM Page 1 thing the minister did not wish to see repeated within our Jamaican context.

It is very unclear why the #MeToo movement carries such little credence in the minds of many of our men (especially), notwithsta­nding the fact that according to The Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network in the US (RAINN), 230 out of every 1,000 sexual assaults are never reported. Instead of adopting a position that sympathise­s and seeks to understand why so many sexual assault victims don’t report, many find it easier to support a policy that would see sexual harassment victims pushed into silence after a measly 12 months.

Just for clarity, there are a few reasons well as to why many sexual assault victims do not make reports until years after the fact. The same reasons can easily explain why sexual harassment also frequently goes unreported. One is that in many cases, sexual assault victims are genuinely stunned into confusion. Especially in cases where the perpetrato­r is a trusted person in the victim’s life, the victim may spend years trying to understand the assault and why it happened and may not, until years after, muster the courage to speak.

An interestin­g piece of data shared by RAINN is that of the slew of victims who do not report, 20 per cent don’t because they fear retaliatio­n. Quite a reasonable concern. Just about 80 per cent of perpetrato­rs of sexual violence know the victim. If the victim is in no way protected from the accused who knows them well and could easily harm them further, why would the victim feel safe in making a report? Matters are even further complicate­d when sexual assault perpetrato­rs occupy positions of power and can threaten the victim with a job loss, tarnished reputation or otherwise.

THE TRIGGER

Another contributo­r to the delay in reporting was borne out by Minister Chuck in Parliament. When sexual assault victims do come forward one week after the fact, we wonder out loud why they waited all of one week to make a report. Knowing this, after the passage of relatively short periods of time, many resolve to forget the matter and ‘move on’, in fear of being called a liar. And then more time elapses, reducing the likelihood of them ever reporting; that is, until there is a trigger that pushes them into finally making a report.

Some have tried to paint sexual harassment claims as being frivolous and flippant and of a totally different class from sexual assault, since harassment is in some cases non-physical. A very blurred line makes the distinctio­n between sexual harassment and assault, since in many cases the trauma brought on by sexual harassment can be just as damaging as in the case of assault. Furthermor­e, sexual harassment, in many instances, does in fact get very physical.

What has been a little disappoint­ing, yet not at all surprising, is that, as usual, the greater number of persons seemingly unable to see any issue with the minister’s unfortunat­e position are men. Surprise, surprise. Suddenly, there is a concern that women will start cooking up allegation­s of sexual misconduct simply out of idleness or malice. This shows very little understand­ing of the fact that sexual harassment allegation­s would naturally be put before a tribunal and would be examined based on the evidence available. The bill also outlines clear penalties for anyone who makes a false report.

Statistica­lly, more women have experience­d sexual harassment and are, therefore, more likely to sympathise with sufferers of sexual harassment. Similarly, there are numerous other issues that affect women either uniquely or predominan­tly. It is for this reason I am inclined to say the call for greater female representa­tion in Parliament is not merely a shallow display of symbolism or tokenism, but is very practical and, in fact, very necessary.

 ??  ?? Mental health expert Dr Saphire Longmore.
Mental health expert Dr Saphire Longmore.
 ??  ?? Justice minister Delroy Chuck.
Justice minister Delroy Chuck.
 ??  ??

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