Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today.
by Marsha Hinds
This week I am making a pelau of issues. Of course, there is something to be said about the removal of Nelson. The 16 days for the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls is upon us again and I want to make some observations on discipline in schools.
I am relieved that Nelson is gone. Slavery was a traumatic experience that affected every aspect of the lives of those Africans enslaved in these spaces.
Slavery is a complex system of signs, symbols and beliefs supported by superstructures including the law and religion. It did not take a day or a year or even a generation to season slavery into the culture of Barbados and likewise it will take a sustained effort to remove it.
There is need for not just one festival or gesture to begin to undo the psychological damage but a consistent, persistent, sustained calendar of things.
The removal of Nelson was one for the generation of my children to remember and I am appreciative.
There was one little sinking feeling associated with the removal though – the secrecy behind who benefitted from the removal and to what tune. Did the removal of Nelson go out to tenure? Was there a focus, given the sentiment of the intention of the removal, a clause that gave black businesses exclusive access to the job?
It would have been nice to have ultra-transparency associated with the removal of Nelson as a signal to a new type of levelling of the business environment and governance on the island.
Perhaps I expected too much in one go but it does not diminish my glee that we have made this step.
Every year Barbados joins countries around the world in celebrating the 16 days for activism for the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls. Last year, I was bitterly disappointed with the level of attention the government gave the event. This year, I await to see how the 16 days shape up.
I remain concerned that we have not done enough to ensure that women affected by intimate partner violence have access to a safety net during COVID-19.
Many women have lost their employment and they remain the primary providers for children and the elderly. This financial situation has added to the vulnerability of women and girls on the island.
I reflected on it when I heard the announcement that $50 million dollars from the consolidated fund would be allotted to assist vulnerable families.
Who are the vulnerable families in Barbados? How are they classified? Are we clear that the vulnerabilities are not just the lack of infrastructure?
One of the major issues that causes family vulnerability in Barbados is domestic violence broadly and intimate partner violence specifically.
I am not hopeful that any amount of money thrown at this loosely defined thing called vulnerable families without an in-depth understanding of the features and characteristics of vulnerable families will get closer to being able to assist these families. Once we rain intent on addressing poverty without addressing women’s issues we will have families that slip through the vast systemic cracks.
My final muse this week is about the video of the school student that was widely circulated recently. I will admit that I received the video but did not open it.
What piqued my interest in the matter was the response of the Minister in a section of the press.
I was a bit alarmed that the Minister seemed to reprimand the student and students whose behaviour were similar in the public domain.
Deviance is a performance that is under laid by needs. We continue to believe that children who act out do so out of ‘wutlessness’ or ‘upishness’.
Until we are able to reframe children’s deviance we will be unable to address the real issues and assist fewer children in falling foul of the laws of institutions and society. I agree with teachers not being called to deliver a suite of services that include treating deviance in schools.
Teachers are content specialists and while they do have some skills in classroom management more is needed
to treat deviance.
One of the major shortcomings in classrooms across Barbados is that we have a botched system of addressing student needs currently.
We have removed the power to treat behaviour from teachers, which as I said, I have no issue with but we have been slow to add the other consultants needed to complete the matrix, including social workers and psychologists.
So when I watched the video all I saw was another child making a cry for help and another frustrated teacher.
I saw a broken educational system and systemic issues that make its address too long in coming. I really did not see the failing of a child – I saw a failing of us as a society.
Marsha Hinds is the President of the National Organisation of Women.
