Editorial
Gender Violence - Everyone'sConcern
In recent weeks some concerned and proactivecitizens have turned the spotlight on domestic violence -- anissue that was once borne as a private scourge, especially insmall societies such as the Cayman Islands.
Thanks to the efforts of organisations such as the Business andProfessional Womenís Club (BPW), gender violence is nowsquarely in the public domain. The BPW's 16 Days of Activism againstGender Violence campaign, which ended on December 10, appearsto have done much to sensitize the public and to raise the levelof debate about domestic violence.
It is to be hoped that the attention given to the issue duringthe BPW's campaign will continue and will gain momentum as Cayman,like many other countries face up to the harsh realties of genderviolence.
Locally, the problem does not appear to be a small one. In 1999some 843 cases were reported to the police. Of that number 237were reports of common assault, 110 cases of assault causing actualbodily harm; four were cases of assualt causing grevious bodilyharm, with the same number of cases of wounding; 40 reported instancesof damage to property; 61 incidents of abuse and 387 cases ofdomestic dispute.
Up to the end of November 2000, the statistics point to a continuationof the trend towards a high number of incidents. The police statisticsrecord 684 cases of domestic violence. Within that total were518 cases of domestic dispute and 136 cases of common assault.
Although women are most affected by gender violence, there areminority cases in which men themselves are the victims. It hasbeen shown that physical abuse is often preceded by emotionalabuse and many women endure this for years and years before daringto speak out.
Unfortunately, many women are inclined to make accommodations,with the spurious reasoning that they do not want to jeopardizethe relationship; that where children are involved, they mustgrin and bear it for their sake or in thinking that there mustbe something, anything they can do change the abuser's behaviour.
It doesn't often work that way. The result is that the abuse -whether emotional or physical ñ becomes a pattern, eventuallyreaching an explosive point. It is at this stage that intervention,by the police, neighbours or social workers becomes necessary.The damage, however, would have already been sustained.
By far the most insiduous effect of domestic abuse is its effecton children growing up in a home where one parent is continuallyrobbed of any self esteem and constantly battered by another.Children may well internalize this behaviour and in later lifemimic it in their own relationships.
Domestic violence also robs a society of valuable human resources.When people are physically harmed in abusive relationships, theylose time that should be spent on the job or in other pursuitsbeneficial to the society.
It is for these reasons that government must ensure that the fullweight of the law is brought to bear on those are guilty of thisscourge. The laws should be so structured to make it possibleto prosecute the offender, even if a sympathetic partner withdrawsthe complaint.
It is also a responsibility of government to ensure the full protectionof those who are victims, by providing the necessary shelter andcounseling services to enable them to renew their lives. Thisshould also include rehabilitation for the offenders.
Efforts like those of the BPW and the Women's Resource Centregive victims of gender violence what they need most - the courageto say, no more. The rest of us owe it to each other to do ourpart to expose and root out this despicable behaviour.