Coalition women not satisfied with quality of programmes and services for women

The opposition coalition is putting the final touches to a women’s rally it intends to hold on Saturday at Merriman’s Mall, Georgetown. The rally will feature the wives of Presidential Candidate David Granger and PM Candidate Moses Nagamootoo, Sandra Granger and Seeta Nagamootoo respectively.

But even ahead of the rally where issues specific to women will be ventilated the APNU+AFC coalition held a press conference on Friday with an all women panel where it recognized the immense strides that some Guyanese women have made over the past 40 years.

It was noted that many have acquired higher education and are functioning at high professional levels while maintaining peaceful, loving homes for their children.

 “Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the majority of our women.  The Coalition is not at all satisfied with the quality of programmes and services currently in place for the social and economic development of our women especially in rural areas,” Catherine Hughes stated.

She said many women still do not have sufficient knowledge about the laws and their rights regarding domestic violence and gender equality, that is, equal pay for equal work, freedom from discrimination and sexual harassment.

She believes that whatever national policy is in existence does not seem to be working.  “The deaths and permanent maiming of many women at the hands of spouses and even male family members have increased exponentially over the past decade and so has the incidence of maternal deaths,” she added.

The panel said a zero tolerance approach will be taken towards human trafficking, recognizing that young women in the city and the hinterland are falling victim in increasing numbers to Trafficking in Persons.

“From all appearances, there does not appear to be any concerted administrative strategy to effectively address this gaping hole in the fabric of this society.  This is the 21^st Century and Guyana is lagging far behind the rest of the developed and developing world.”

On the social spectrum, the APNU+AFC Coalition intends to go into full attack mode to confront the incredibly high rates of suicide and domestic violence against women and children in urban and rural communities with the involvement of religious and community leaders.

The women said the coalition is determined to change the economic and social paradigms in Guyana.