The Intersection of Gender, Culture and Education: Jamaica: The Next 50 Years!

Jamaica’s two major political parties, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), and the People’s National Party (PNP), have for far too long evaded the issue of campaign and party financing.   This avoidance of disclosing the source of campaign funding has fuelled and strengthened the perception in the society that politics is dirty, self-serving and corrupt. The recent developments in the court proceedings in Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) involving the head of a ponzi scheme has highlighted and exposed the dire urgency for both political parties and civil society to engage in dialogue with the primary purpose of addressing the issue by crafting the necessary legislation to deal with the matter. The time has come for all law abiding and civic minded Jamaicans to demand more from, and hold our politicians to a higher standard than what currently exists. Transparency and accountability have always taken a back burner in the Jamaican society, and we must ensure that in a new paradigm of go...

The right to be informed is one of the basic rights of any consumer.   However, to be informed one must be proactive and educate one’s self about one’s rights and responsibilities as a consumer.   However if we fail to inform and educate ourselves we usually make decisions that reduce our financial resources and in some instances harm our health. The search for consumer related information is usually made more difficult by manufacturers as they try and hide certain aspects of data necessary for us as consumers to make informed choices. How many of us for example are aware that harmful chemicals are used in household furniture? Many of us have cushions, sofas and upholstery type furniture in our homes yet we know very little about the makeup of these furniture. Flame retardant foams are usually placed inside many types of upholstery type furniture and research is now showing that exposure to these retardants is responsible for a wide range of illnesses and disorders fro...

Disturbing news emerged recently that some female students were held at gunpoint and assaulted by an intruder at a St. Catherine based high school. This most vicious act shows the extent to which violence against females is still very much a cause for concern in the Jamaican society. Despite being a signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of All Form of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) Jamaica continues to experience high levels of violence against our women and girls. It appears that our government has fallen short in terms of putting in place mechanism and systems to protect our women folk from the almost daily assault on them. The society is shocked ever so often by the level of violence especially sexually assault meted out to the female sex in the society. However, in this latest despicable incident not much has been said publicly condemning this crime. We all should be disappointed and disgusted at the lack of public outcry and condemnation by civil society. Where ar...

Jamaica is rich in customs and traditions. Like most Jamaicans I look each year to celebrate and commemorate those mores which have added significantly to the quality of our lives. The pantomime which opens on its traditional December 26,(Boxing Day) is one such custom.   Over the years the national pantomime has become a main attraction for many Jamaicans especially for those visiting home during the Christmas period. The pantomime usually pokes fun at life in the Jamaican society and provides much comic relief on what are usually serious issues in the society. This gives us an opportunity to laugh at ourselves forgetting our problems even for a few hours. The pantomime has been a training ground for many of our best actors/actress and it continues to produce outstanding talents in the field of theatre and the performing arts. Jamaicans are very talented and creative people; in fact our sons and daughters have dominated in various fields globally ranging from sports, medicine...

The tradition of sending postcards at Christmas is nearly as old as the celebration of Christmas itself. Sending postcards may seem like a waste of time to some especially in today’s society when one can easily and instantly share one’s experiences with friends and family through the various social media, such as, Facebook and Instagram. However, there are many traditionalists in the society who prefer to adhere to this fast eroding practice in the digital age in which we live. In recent time the pleasure of sending postcards has become burdensome and time consuming because of the number of stamps that are required for international postage some destinations.   On a recent visit to the post office it took me quite a while to complete placing a significant number of stamps on postcards. This was primarily because the post office either did not have stamps above $100 value or they were out of higher value stamps regardless of the reason we need to look into it. At this Yuletide tim...

In the aftermath of last week’s tragic incident in St. Elizabeth in which a teenager was allegedly killed by her child’s father the time has come for the police high command to establish minimum guidelines for response time for our law enforcement officers. While this occurs in other jurisdictions Jamaica is once again lagging behind where this is concerned. This guideline should be for all police stations across the island regardless of location. I am very much aware that staffing the police force is extremely challenging, more so in this period of recession and financial constraints, however, it is very clear that we must find additional resources to adequately equip our police officers in order for them to do their job. It is only after this has been done that we can hold them fully accountable for not responding promptly. Minimum response time should become a part of standard operational procedures in the future and should be a part of the curriculum at the police ...

Internet penetration is the percentage of a population using the internet. Jamaica’s rate of internet is not very encouraging. Despite significant progress made over the last decade Jamaica continues to have a relatively low internet penetration rate.   In fact St. Lucia at number 11 is the only Caribbean island listed among the top fifty countries with highest internet penetration rate. St. Lucia has an internet penetration rate of 88.5%. Jamaica on the other hand has an internet penetration rate of 54.7%. Iceland is ranked number one with a 97.8% internet penetration rate. There are many factors which have negatively impacted Jamaica’s level of internet penetration rate.   One such factor is clearly in the realm of economics. It is simply too expensive for the average Jamaican household to purchase a laptop or any device with internet capability. A CPU for example, cost roughly $60,000. Recently I checked a few stores in the corporate area to enquire about a Cen...