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

“Providing sustainable access to improved drinking water sources is one of the most important things we can do to reduce disease”- World Health Organization Director General-Dr. Margaret Chan. Water is life and forms the core of sustainable development.   World Water Day is commemorated each year on March 22. The day is set aside to raise global awareness of the various issues associated with having clean water for human consumption and other related functions. The significance of World Water Day which is a United Nations initiative aims to make a difference for the members of the global population who suffer from water related issues such as diseases.   It’s a day for reflection regarding how best to prepare for how we manage water in the future.    The theme this year is “Better Water, Better Jobs”. Interestingly, half of all workers around the globe (1.5 billion) work in water related industries.   Disturbingly, despite the correlations between jobs and wa...

I am in total support of having more females in representational politics. Historically, gender division has been rooted in patriarchy and has served to reinforce traditional roles and personality traits of females often associated with weakness and dependence. Studies now reveal that women bring both a tangible and intangible service to any situation to which they are included. However, we need to consider very careful the social and economic implications among others for going the route of legislation to ensure gender quotas to increase female representation for the nation’s parliament as well as State boards. We live in a very interesting time when gender identity as a social construct is very fluid and changes rapidly. As a result, we should not try to box in gender identity into our traditional views of masculinity and femininity.   Gender identity refers to which sex you feel as if you are on the inside, (male, female, both, neither, flexible) By adhering to a strict cod...

All children can learn, all children must learn. This is usually true if all the factors are in place to encourage teaching and learning. However, upon closer examination there are many learning challenges that hinder children from learning. Jamaica’s education system is faced with many challenges but perhaps the most prevalent barrier to education is dyslexia.  Dyslexia in many instances is genetic and runs in family. Dyslexia affects up to 17 per cent of a given population. C hildren with dyslexia have difficulty learning to "decode," or read words by associating sounds and letters or letter combinations. Students usually have difficulty recognizing common "sight words," or frequently occurring words that most readers recognize instantly. Examples of sight words are "the" and "and." Children with dyslexia also have difficulty learning how to spell, sometimes referred to as "encoding." Recent research suggests that there are two main f...

We are almost at D day-well, E day for the alphabet-conscious. The pollsters are busy and the major political parties are caught up in the last days of election campaigning from Morant to Negril Points as the nation goes to the polls on February 25 to elect a new government; a government which will be responsible for chartering the future of Jamaica.   Election is oftentimes referred to as the silly season; however, an election is a serious exercise of citizen engagement and participation in the political process in which a selected number of candidates are given the task making legislation to govern the wider society. Disturbingly, over the years more and more Jamaicans have become disengaged and have been turned off by the divisive nature of politics in Jamaica. As a result the base support of both major political parties continues to dwindle while conversely the percentage of the swinger voters continues to increase. Recently, a number of critical issues have come to the fore ...

February 6, is the International Day for Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation. Female Genital Mutilation is the ritual removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. This procedure differs according to the ethnic group and is most prevalent between ages 0-14 years. however, female genital mutilation is also done to women up to age 49.  This procedure is typically carried out by a traditional circumciser using a blade, with or without anesthesia. A t least 200 million women and girls alive today have undergone female genital mutilation, with half of them living in Indonesia, Egypt and Ethiopia. The latest figures, provided by UNICEF, show nearly 70 million more girls than previously thought have been subjected to ritual cutting. Female Genital Mutilation is a creation by males to keep women subjugated and powerless. Men have no rights to tell women what they should do to their bodies. While I understand that female genital mutilation is stee...

The recent awkward incident involving Jamaican cricketer Chris Gayle and a female journalist is probably a good launch area to have a discourse on Caribbean masculinity. The construction of Caribbean masculinity needs to be re-examined in light of the Chris Gayle incident involving female Australian journalist Mel McLaughlin. Gayle’s sexually coded comments were inappropriate. He was fined for his sexually suggestive remarks to the journalist who, after all, was only doing her job in trying to get an interview with him. Historically, the threads of masculinity and manhood are deeply entrenched and linked to the sexual objectification and harassment of women. Alarmingly, not much has changed in the 21 st century and the prognosis suggests not much will change any time soon.   This toxic notion of masculinity is very much celebrated throughout the society and is being eagerly passed on to our boys, especially when juxtaposed with our homophobic culture. Disturbingly, our edu...

New Years Sunday Sermon Bible Verse- Psalm chapter 127 verses 1&2 Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman watcheth but in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep. Theme: Say No To Vain Living. Many of us are currently living a vain life. A life without God is an empty, fruitless and useless one. We can and should examine our own lives to see whether or not we are living an empty life. If our life is primarily concerned with superficial issues while excluding God then we are guilty of such. Are you concerned with how many followers you have on Social Media? Are you concerned with your looks? Are you spending less and less time reading the word of God? Are you spending less time in worship to God? If you answer in the affirmative, then you too are guilty of this. I know it is not easy in this world...