‘Women should be respected all year’

Though March 8 is recognized as International Women’s Day, the President of the Human Rights Association is of the opinion that International Women’s Day goes way beyond a day, and focus needs to be placed on how we treat others throughout the year.

In an interview with SEARCHLIGHT, Sylvester said that there is a high level of domestic violence in this society that is being perpetrated against females mostly by males.{{more}}

According to Sylvester, one of the major forms of violence that is being committed against females is that of incest, and this according to her, is one of the deepest kept secrets.

“Children are embarrassed to speak out about it and when they do the parents are in disbelief,” Sylvester pointed out.

She is of the view that mothers in most cases are to be blamed for some of the incest that is taking place in the homes, since when the child reports the matter to them, they are reluctant to deal with it, hence causing the problem to continue.

When asked why these problems are not being addressed Sylvester is of the opinion that this is due to the women being dependent on the men in most instances for financial support.

“There is a tremendous sense of fear and despair that surround those situations because a lot of women find that they are dependent on the men for financial resources and because of this, they refuse to take action,” she stated.

Though she was not in a position to give the statistics about the percentage of women who suffer from domestic violence, Sylvester stated that the number of reported cases cannot be relied upon, as there are more unreported cases than those that are reported.

She is encouraging females who are victims of domestic violence to say “No to violence in any form,” whether physically or verbally and to report any forms of violence.

Sylvester is also calling on persons to go back to the extended family situation and for the men of the society to respect females.

For this year a series of workshops is scheduled to be conducted by the Human Rights Association and if financial support is given, they are looking forward to airing the program ‘Vincy Rights’ on SVG television.