Any given day in Guyana, there are either stories of women being brutalised published in the mainstream media or on social media. From their violent hacking with cutlasses thus causing death or permanent debilitating injuries, to strangling, to dousing them with acid and to setting women or their homes alight.
On Friday last, clothes vendor Balram Heeralall, strangled his common law wife, Malini Wahid. Reports stated that earlier that very day, Heeralall had appeared before the Sparendaam Magistrate's Court, to plead to assault and battery charges against Wahid. As is the case in many instances, the victims continue to cohabitate with their abusers. Whether due to a lack of financial indepence and mistakenly thinking that because the matter is before the court, the accused will desist from further violent behaviour, many victims remain in the home.
Mere hours after his court appearance, neighbours reported hearing Wahid's cries for help and witnessed Heeralall violently choking her as she lay on the living room floor. Reports are that he subsequently took his own life. Evidently, charging Heeralall and placing him before the court was by no means a deterrent. Domestic violence knows no race, class or creed. None is exempt. Combating this scourge in Guyana, could be likened to Don Quixote battling windmills.
Whilst two steps forward are taken, ten are taken backwards. Recently, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, in collaboration with the Guyana Bar Association, launched an initiative entitled Legal 500 Pro Bono. It is specifically designed to provide free legal services to women and girls. An excellent step by Minister Vindya Persaud and Guyana Bar Association President Pauline Chase. I confess to not being privy to the exact parameters of this initiative, as all of its details are not yet in the public domain.
This initiative is by no means the first of its kind. Over the years, the subject ministers have attempted to put in place various safeguards with a view to stemming the seemingly unabated violence. Likewise, non-governmental organizations such as Red Thread and Help and Shelter too have been involved in this area.
Certainly, the deeply ingrained and ubiquitous patriarchal culture, adds to the continued norm of violent abuse. It begins with the victims' reluctance to engage their families, friends and the police in their plights. Often this is due to embarrassment. From birth, women are indoctrinated not to "air your dirty linen in public," or "don't get in man and wife story." While the foregoing misguided notions need to be banished altogether, how to erase that generational cultural norm is a question for which I have no answer. In other cases, women are terrified that reporting abuse will result in worse treatment as is often the outcome.
In this regard, various strategies have been employed over the years. From sensitivity training for police officers, to workshop after workshop, to legislating of restraining orders all with seemingly little results. However, the decided lack of success in this area is unsurprising. A theory is that there is a measure of inequality. By this I mean that despite the advances made in the area of women's rights, the legal system, or should I say the old boy's network, remains stacked against women. Added to this, there seems to be no system of checks and balances with respect to political office holders in Guyana. At one point, during the previous administration there was talk of a code of conduct for ministers. As to whether this is still applicable, is anyone's guess.
Furthermore, known abusers apparently are free to pursue and retain office. What is even more abhorrent, is that they are openly supported by all and sundry. This includes people who not only witnessed the aftermath of the beating a girlfriend received but helped to enable this continuing behaviour by interceding on the abuser's behalf. This repugnant culture of turning a blind eye continues to be tolerated for no other reasons than that of perpetrators' positions and or contacts.
Not long ago, the wife of a government affiliated lawyer, took to social media in a purported cry for help. Laleeta Sahadeo-Gunraj stated "I have to fight the man who is considered a hero, who fought for democracy, to do the bare minimum and take care of the little people he brought into this world." Among the hashtags added to her post, Sahadeo-Gunraj added are "adulterer, abuser, and I am a lady without a voice." It took a great deal of courage for her to speak out publicly. Also circulated, was the copy of a document appearing to be a divorce petition between the plaintiff Sase Ravindranauth Gunraj and Sahadeo-Gunraj the respondent. It was claimed that Sahadeo-Gunraj was without legal representation because the attorneys she had approached all refused to accept her as a client. A situation, that is not at all unusual, given the fact that the plaintiff is an attorney-at-law and the respondent is not. So initially ranks were closed against her. However, I have since learned that a female attorney has admirably lived up to her oath and is providing representation.
The aforementioned no doubt serves to highlight the odds, more often than not faced by women. Ergo, reducing the incidences of violence against women and girls will take so much more than free legal representation for which the iniative allows. It also requires a change of attitudes to a zero tolerance policy at every strata in the Guyanese society. Developing policies and strategies are all important facets and are commendable. However, unless we develop the habit of refusing to accept abuse, turning a blind eye and enabling the continued abuse by not speaking out when our families and friends are the perpetrators of such abuse, this sabotages the progress made.
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