Treat women, girls better

THE EDITOR: The United Nations General Assembly has declared November 25 International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, bringing to the fore the need to respect women and not violate them in body, mind and soul.

In TT we witness, almost daily, many unfortunate incidents involving abusive behaviour towards women and girls. A recent study by the IDB showed that one in three women in TT have been victims of intimate-partner violence and with a population of 1.4 million this runs into the thousands.

Also, the TTPS' Victims and Witness Support Unit has said that between 2005 and 2015, over 300 women were killed as a direct result of domestic abuse, of which 7,000 cases were reported.

The numbers tell us where we are and that change must take place or else the future of our women will be very bleak.

It is not uncommon to hear of sexual abuse against girls by their own relatives, it's no longer major news when we hear of women being victims of domestic violence, girls bullied at school, harrassment in the workplace, assaulted, raped and murdered.

The time has long passed for those in authority to pay particular attention to acts of violence perpetrated against females. We need to make a concerted effort to capture and charge those who prey on our women and girls. We need to make harsher, the penalties prescribed in law for acts of violence against females.

We need to make our menfolk understand that if they cannot treat women and girls with the respect they deserve, there will be consequences. Women are the backbone of the home and society. Our women must once again feel safe going about their business knowing that the law is on their side.

Some men need to be honest with themselves and do some intropection to try and understand why they have violent and disrespectful tendencies when dealing with members of the opposite sex. During such introspection, they should ask themselves, "The wrongs I do to women, would I want them done to me?" Hopefully the answer would be, "No."

ARNOLD GOPEESINGH

San Juan

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"Treat women, girls better"

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