In an address to the University of the West Indies Leaders Engaged, Activated, and Dedicated Annual Breakfast held at The Knutsford Court Hotel in New Kingston on January 27th, Government Senator Kamina Johnson-Smith sought to allay the growing concerns that women are being employed at twice the rate of men.
Johnson Smith insisted that space has to be made for women who have been shackled by cultural norms.
“I don’t think to promote women in a situation where women have not been promoted before in a space that has been predominantly male, that it means male marginalization.
“I am always quite surprised at how easy it is for conversations to change nowadays to male marginalization when you are speaking about male empowerment.”
One of the reasons we cannot solve problems for our people is that we refuse to accept facts as facts and work from those baselines.
Former President Barack Obama lamented the very same thing after leaving office.
Speaking to Republican intransigence and the reasons nothing gets done Obama argued
In Jamaica, like in the US, politicians are willing to ignore data, facts which do not support their narrative are discarded as opinions and left to die on the workroom floor and policies are developed which end up having the opposite effect of what they were intended.
All because policy-makers have their own agendas which generally does not line up with the will of the majority.
It is important to consider that while Johnson-Smith was heaping scorn on the data which had been released by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica, showing that female workers are being employed at twice the rate of men.
And while addressing a group of people from the University of the West Indies, that very institution is having severe problems fielding a balanced slate of freshman students each year.
Someone in that group could have directed the Senator to the ghastly freshman numbers at the UWI each year in which females are up to 85% of the freshman class, year after year.
file:///C:/Users/excellence/Downloads/C.P.8d%20-%20Statistical%20Five-Year%20Review%20of%20Trends%20in%20Enrolment%20and%20Graduation%20(1).pdf
There are exponentially more all-girls schools in Jamaica than boy schools.
There are also myriad agencies dedicated to the support and upliftment of girls and women. I have listed a few here for the benefit of the Senator’s education and fidelity to truth.
(1) The Bureau of Women’s Affairs (gender affairs)Act as a catalyst to ensure that the Government addresses the problems that confront women, given the impact of patriarchy and sexism.
(2) Woman Incorporated (Crisis Centre) Offering crisis counseling, referral services, and a 24-hour hotline. The issues addressed by Woman Inc. include rape, incest, domestic violence, domestic crisis, and sexual harassment.
(3) Sistren Theatre Collective Brings pressure to bear on society to change negative stereotypes of women.
(4) Women’s Centre Of Jamaica Foundation Objective is to motivate young mothers to choose education instead of continuous motherhood.
(5) Women’s Media Watch The organization works to improve the images of women in the media.
(6) Women’s Resource And Outreach Centre Provides a place for women and youth in the Lyndhurst and Greenwich community to learn the route self-empowerment.
This list does not begin to scratch the surface but it gives clear and unequivocal examples of the disparity in support services and to whom they are dedicated.
It would be interesting to have the good Senator or one of her lackeys furnish me with a list of equivalent service organizations dedicated to the upliftment and support of boys and men.
In a typical family in which resources are scarce, the boy is left to fend for himself while the single mother, or both parents dedicated themselves to sending the girls to school.
Jamaica’s youth is in crisis, but nowhere is it more evident than in the male population.
The sad reality is that the women are getting an education and the boys are seeking commensurate power and respect through the barrel of a gun.
How will the nation move forward when a Government Senator ignores empirical data in order to push a feminist agenda which is exacting incredible costs on the country in blood and treasure?
In the push to level the playing field and establish equity, the feminist movement does not care about any outcome except the outcomes which justify quotas in women’s favor, regardless of the consequences.
A rising tide raises all boats. If we are to have a better and just society we work for a society in which all are treated equally.
While the women take on jobs clearly some are not cut out for in the quest for political correctness the men stand on the corners crushing weed in the middle of their hands.
Later on, society pays dearly when they decide to take out their anger for their lack of relevance and the perception that the game is rigged against them.
Guess what it is.
The young Jamaican male has become the caricature of what the feminist movement
Pants sagging off his ass, Guinness stout under one arm, while he crushes dried Ganga in his palm.
A good for nothing male product of the patriarchy who sires multiple children, none of whom he supports.
He is violent and spontaneous and is predisposed to using violence as a means of conflict resolution.
Sounds about right ‑right? Well, if you think the murder statistics are frightening now, swallow the nonsense of Kamina Johnson-Smith and ignore the data.
I’ll hope to see you on the other side of the revolution.