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Blaine blames women's liberation movement
.says it's responsible for anti-social behaviour of males
Monday, March 24, 2008
CHILD rights activist Betty-Ann Blaine says the women's liberation movement, which came to prominence in the 20th century, should be blamed for much of the anti-social behaviour now being played out in society by males.
"We have to be very careful that we don't study gender at the expense of a particular gender because 40 years hence, we've discovered that we possibly made a mistake by focusing on females.
Child rights advocate and Observer columnist Betty-Ann Blaine (right), and Celta Kirkland (centre), also an Observer columnist, with other participants at last Wednesday's forum on gender imbalance and its implications for national development, held at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston. (Photo: Lionel Rookwood)
"I suspect a lot of this came out of the feminist movement and we did it at the expense of boys and men. For years and years 'gender' meant 'girls'. We were focusing on girls at the expense of our boys," she said.
"Now, the gender emphasis is on our boys because we've discovered that they've been left behind and so 'gender' now means 'boys'. What worries me now is this: that while we are focusing on the boys, the girls will be left behind.
The solution, Blaine says, is to broaden the focus on gender-related issues to include all youths. Otherwise, she says, in about 20 years, the tables are going to be turned and society will be seeking ways to deal with similar problems in females.
"I want to caution those of us who are interested in gender to say, let's broaden the focus and look at youth, both girls and boys. That is not to say we should not continue to look at the specific problems of our boys because we know the boys are the ones getting into the criminality [and] we know that a lot of them are unemployed but we have to be careful that when we look at the problem of boys, that we don't do it at the expense of girls," she said.
Blaine was addressing a gender forum put on by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Jamaica at the Pegasus hotel Wednesday night. The topic was Gender Imbalance: Implication for national development.
.says it's responsible for anti-social behaviour of males
Monday, March 24, 2008
CHILD rights activist Betty-Ann Blaine says the women's liberation movement, which came to prominence in the 20th century, should be blamed for much of the anti-social behaviour now being played out in society by males.
"We have to be very careful that we don't study gender at the expense of a particular gender because 40 years hence, we've discovered that we possibly made a mistake by focusing on females.
Child rights advocate and Observer columnist Betty-Ann Blaine (right), and Celta Kirkland (centre), also an Observer columnist, with other participants at last Wednesday's forum on gender imbalance and its implications for national development, held at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston. (Photo: Lionel Rookwood) "I suspect a lot of this came out of the feminist movement and we did it at the expense of boys and men. For years and years 'gender' meant 'girls'. We were focusing on girls at the expense of our boys," she said.
"Now, the gender emphasis is on our boys because we've discovered that they've been left behind and so 'gender' now means 'boys'. What worries me now is this: that while we are focusing on the boys, the girls will be left behind.
The solution, Blaine says, is to broaden the focus on gender-related issues to include all youths. Otherwise, she says, in about 20 years, the tables are going to be turned and society will be seeking ways to deal with similar problems in females.
"I want to caution those of us who are interested in gender to say, let's broaden the focus and look at youth, both girls and boys. That is not to say we should not continue to look at the specific problems of our boys because we know the boys are the ones getting into the criminality [and] we know that a lot of them are unemployed but we have to be careful that when we look at the problem of boys, that we don't do it at the expense of girls," she said.
Blaine was addressing a gender forum put on by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Jamaica at the Pegasus hotel Wednesday night. The topic was Gender Imbalance: Implication for national development.
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