By Nikieta Liburd
Nevis Reporter
(Charlestown, Nevis) – The people at the Gender Affairs Department are in the business of helping people – through public education, counseling and outreach efforts.
Mrs. Salome James, an officer at the Gender Affairs Department, gave an overview of the department’s activities.
“At the Gender Affairs Department we deal with all issues pertaining to men and women. We also do counseling,” Mrs. James said.
The department is involved in International Women’s Day, which is celebrated on March 8.
“Normally for International Women’s Day, we honor five women on Nevis, one from each parish. These women are persons we selected because they either play a significant role in the community or have made some sort of contribution to the community,” Mrs. James said.
“We call these women ‘Unsung Women.’ These are women some people have probably never heard of, never given anything for what they have done. We also do a profile on the selected women,” Mrs. James said.
“Also for International Women’s Day we are going to be hosting a walk. The walk is in collaboration with the Nevis Nurses’ Association, Gender Affairs and the Chain Center,” Mrs. James said. “We are walking in support of Breast Cancer. This is a fund raising activity. The funds will be given to the Breast Cancer Awareness Committee.”
The location of the walk has not been announced.
There is also VOW – Voices of Women, a newly- started support group is also a part of some of the programs available. The aim of VOW is to support and promote women.
“In the next coming election we will like to see a women being elected, we want to promote democratic leadership towards women. In Nevis the women aren’t given enough support,” Mrs. James said.
A Teen Mother’s Support Group is one of the other programs at the Gender Affairs Department.
“This group is in support of teen mothers. The group is called ‘Girls on the Move.’ The initial purpose of this group is to help teen mothers,” Mrs. James said. “We obtained some funds and we send them out into business places to learn different skills and we pay them. We help with maintenance and also with babysitting.”
“For the men, we are trying to get the men more involved in the community. We also promote them for Father’s Day. A catering program for the men will be introduced later in the year,” Mrs. James said.
Domestic violence on Nevis has become a topic of interest in recent years..
“There are a lot of domestic violence cases, not just violence between spouses but violence between children and parents or even children and children,” Mrs. James said. “In the case where there is violence with children, sometimes (the adults and children) may not be related. Once a child is living in one household, we call that being related, so we consider that a family. That’s where Gender Affairs steps in.”
The department also deals with the issue of incest.
“A lot of children don’t like to talk about the fact that they have been victimized,” Mrs. James said. “They feel embarrassed, in denial. Some don’t want anybody to know and some are afraid of repercussions. They don’t want to be the caused of breaking up a family. The child sometimes feels guilty, as if it is their fault.”
