Gender Equality Commission looking into women’s plight

The Women and Gender Equality Commission is slated to host another round of regional consultations in its quest to highlight the issues stymieing the development of women across Guyana.
This disclosure was made on Wednesday by the commission’s chairperson Indranie Chandarpal during a press conference in the boardroom of the unit’s Queenstown office.

The countrywide discourse will recommence on October 10, when the commission will meet with regional representatives, stakeholders, government officials and residents of Region Six at the University of Guyana’s Tain Campus in Berbice, to discuss the issue of “Women’s access to justice”.
In a similar fashion, the Women and Gender Equality Commission will take its consultation to the Region Nine during the period October 12 to 14, subsequent to which sessions will be held in Regions One, Five, Seven and Eight.
Earlier in the year, the commission held similar discussions in other districts such as Regions Three and 10. “In the first such awareness programme… we listen to the women in Region Three, from the Parika end and the Vreed-en-hoop end, in which they talked about all the difficulties they have… and we realised there needs to be much more collaboration at the regional level, with the players that are there in terms of helping the women to access to things that they need.”
The chairperson explained that the nationwide consultation was birthed after the staging of International Women’s Day Conference in March, in which “Women’s access to justice” took centre stage. Government has taken the necessary steps to initiate policies, laws and mechanisms to improve the lives of Guyanese, including women, but according to Chandarpal, many persons are ignorant to their rights when soliciting justice.
Also, the commission is scheduled to meet with nine organisations to discuss the issues of women. It has set mid-December as the period by which it will complete consultations not only with residents, but stakeholders that influence and impact society in more ways than one.
In addition to the country consultation, the Women and Gender Equality Commission will be campaigning for the establishment of community councils across Guyana, in particular to areas that have high rates of domestic abuse. The chairperson posited that this move is critical, explaining that simple misunderstandings lead to tragic events; hence, the council is of great importance to prevent such occurrences.