The Tribune

By MORGAN ADDERLEY

Tribune Staff Reporter

madderley@tribunemedia.net

SENATOR Dr Mildred Hall-Watson yesterday called for an end to victim shaming and for more equality for young women while delivering an address in the Senate.

The senator also pointed to the controversy surrounding the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court. She said her heart went out to one of Mr Kavanaugh’s accusers, who was shamed and called a liar because she took decades to come forward with her allegations.

October 11 was the United Nations’ International Day of the Girl Child, under the theme of “With Her: A Skilled Girl Force”.

“Across the world, girls face adversities that hinder their education, training and entry into the workforce,” the UN Women website reports. “They have less access to information, communication technology and resources, such as the internet where the global gender gap is growing.”

In her remarks, Dr Hall-Watson noted that while society is moving “closer and closer” to parity between the sexes in the workplace, “there is still a grave disparity” with how teenage girls are treated.

“Despite the fact that we have a longstanding sexual offenders law in place we still have many, many young women who are sexually attacked and bruised,” Dr Hall-Watson said. “And then they become the ones who are accused, where they are shamed because victim shaming is something that takes place.”

She added there are still instances of preteen girls having children.

She also referred to the controversy ensnaring Mr Kavanaugh who has been accused of sexual misconduct or assault by four women, including California professor Christine Blasely Ford, 51. Mrs Ford alleged Mr Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager in the 1980s.

Mrs Ford testified during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about these allegations, which were denied by Mr Kavanaugh.

Mr Kavanaugh was appointed to the Supreme Court on October 6.

“When we look at what just happened on an international basis and our hearts went out to the woman who in her 50s is still experiencing pain for what she suffered as a teenager,” Dr Hall-Watson said.

“She was still told she was telling a lie and it took too long anyway, even if it is the truth. No one can determine what someone feels inside and what that activity will do to an individual and negatively impact them for the rest of their lives.”

Dr Hall-Watson called on her fellow senators to support the day’s initiative, and to let such actions last longer than a single day.

“What we want is to see our girls become adult women who not only have parity in business but parity in how they are treated as part of the female gender,” she said.