The real facts

THE EDITOR: In a news report about the murder of Samantha Isaacs by her child’s father, broadcast on i95.5 on Monday, 18th December, the head of UWI’s Institute of Gender and Development Studies, Dr Gabrielle Hosein promulgated the misleading statistic that “one in three women have experienced abuse” in Trinidad and Tobago.

This figure, taken wholesale from North American feminists and not based on any local research, is credible only if the term “abuse” is stretched to include acts such as a man shouting during a quarrel.

One study in the Caribbean Human Development Report 2012 found that in TT just eight out of every 100 couples experienced domestic violence but, if “insults” were included, then one out of five women AND men had experienced abuse.

The fact is, domestic abuse is not prevalent in TT and is not an act that most people consider right or tolerable. And exaggerating the statistics doesn’t help reduce the minority of persons who are in such relationships.

KEVIN BALDEOSINGH, Freeport

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"The real facts"

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