The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

ATTORNEY General Allyson Maynard-Gibson says she is “certainly uncomfortable” about reports of nearly 60 per cent of high school boys supporting the idea that men should discipline their female partners. She said efforts had to be increased to “educate our people about equality.”

Her comments came in response to a study by the College of the Bahamas (COB) last month that determined that 58 per cent of high school boys and 37 per cent of high school girls believed men should discipline their female partners.

Speaking at the Celebrating Woman International Women of Distinction and Excellence Awards ceremony on Monday night, Mrs Maynard-Gibson said Bahamians must “get to the stage” where they “recognise that our daughters and sons have an equal opportunity to achieve the highest heights in the country.”

“Violence against women continues to be a great and troubling concern in our country, and in the description of violence against women I include sexual harassment,” she said. “Women should always feel safe and protected. Women should be able to live without fear and with the security that if something were to happen to us we would feel the support of the law and the community.

“We have to be concerned though, when we read in the newspaper that 58 per cent of high school boys believe that men should discipline their female partners.

“This is something that we really do have to be concerned about.”

The study, entitled Attitudes of High School Students Regarding Intimate Relationships and Gender Norms in New Providence, The Bahamas, was conducted by members of the Bahamas Crisis Centre (BCC) and COB’s academic community. 1,000 students from grade 10 to 12 from eight schools, including one private school, participated in the survey.

Of the students surveyed, 58 per cent of high school boys and 37 per cent of high school girls believed men should discipline their female partners.

Additionally, 46 per cent of boys believed wives must have sex when her husband wanted to, compared to 16 per cent of girls. This, according to researchers, has possible implications on debates on marital rape.

The study also found that 49 per cent of boys believe women should ask permission from their male partners if they wanted to go out while 17 per cent of girls supported this view.

Most of the teens from both sexes also believed men should be the head of their households and that both husbands and wives should submit to one another and remain committed, reflecting the country’s religious values.

Based on the gathered data, the study concluded that there was “a clear need for children to be taught how to respect one another from an early age.”

Shortly after the results were released, BCC Director Dr Sandra Dean-Patterson said she wasn’t surprised by the conclusions of the study and said it reflects this culture’s belief system.

She also said young people should not be blamed or criticised for their “regressive views, as they reflect the views of society more generally.

However, Mrs Maynard-Gibson said the results of the survey suggested to her that society is not “doing enough to educate our men and women about domestic violence.”

“We have to increase our efforts to educate all of our people about equality,” she said.

“It is very important for women to be respected in our communities and in our homes.

“When we think about it in living memory, the suffragettes who fought for women to have the right to vote. We remember that not so long ago it was okay to discipline a woman as long as the rod wasn’t thicker than your thumb.

“You think that these things are behind us, but then you read that these ideas are still in the minds of high school men. That should give us all a reason to be uncomfortable.

“I can say that as a mother of two daughters I am certainly uncomfortable.”

Celebrating Women International is an offshoot from The King Global Humanitarian Foundation, the brainchild of Bahamian businessman Rudolph “Rudy” King.

On Monday night at the Melia Nassau Beach hotel, over 300 women from throughout the Bahamas were recognised for the “significant role they played in the development of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.”

The group included iconic women such as former Deputy Prime Minister Cynthia “Mother” Pratt and The Tribune’s Publisher and Editor Eileen Dupuch Carron.

Executive Director Anthony Allens told The Tribune that it was “only fitting” to give the iconic ladies “the recognition that they deserve.”