The Gender System And Sexism In Jamaica

The exclusion of women from decision-making occupations and leadership is, in my opinion and in many others, one of the most shameful acts of our life. It has been enough time for this problem to be completely erased from our culture but this varies on the education, religion and therefore, the country, too. The gender system teaches us what being a man and a woman means, how we should behave and how we should relate to each other, and even though it has gotten better throughout the years, it is harder for countries like Jamaica.

Jamaica may look like a paradise; known for it’s amazing beaches, landscapes and the people, but in reality, it is a really violent and intolerant society. The island’s serious struggles with sexism and inequality, sexual violence, rape and the country’s high unemployment and poverty rates has allowed the rise of other bigger problems like drug trafficking and severe violence. As small as Jamaica is, it ranks in the top 10 for having the highest murder rates (In 2005-58 murders per 100,000 people) (CIA). Also, monthly, both large and small businesses are forced to give a portion of what they’ve earned to organised street criminals. If they don’t do so, they are sent death threats or warnings, and most of the times aggressive action is taken. But the police and everyone in Jamaica is aware of all this but don’t do anything about it. The island’s government is occupied with other, more important, issues. Like having an extremely poor and patriarchal country and women are used to not being a priority.

Violence against women in Jamaica is really common. It is almost like a cultural tradition that is transferred from one family member to another, from one friend to another and it is even transmitted as a normal thing by teachers. In the majority of households in Jamaica there is a single parent in charge, normally the mother, which tends to be really young (The average age for first birth: 21 years old) (The CIA). Having a father that doesn’t care about his kids and a mother that is dependent on a male figure and is too young to act as a real parent, the result is a bunch of kids that definitely don’t have a good example and grow up thinking that these behaviours are normal and correct because after all, there is no one to tell them otherwise. And of course, on the other end of the spectrum, there are good, honest and hardworking men that are committed to their families but the chance to have someone like this is almost null. And even though this island is principally a Christian state, the supposed Biblical union between men and women does not seem to have much significance.

Sexism is mentioned as one of the biggest problems of this country and Jamaica is often used as an example in interventions over the years as a result of the extreme gender-based violence. In a quick but effective explanation, The Caribbean Quarterly explained: “…being aggressive is masculine; being sexually aggressive is masculine; rape is sexually aggressive behavior; therefore rape is masculine behavior. ” And this is something that many young boys think is acceptable. I have been lucky enough to grow up in a place where women are equal. Or at least that is how I felt. The people that I surrounded myself with treated me correctly and the ones that did not, I simply just punched them to show them that girls are not weak. I am also used to the fact that your sexuality and your choice of gender do not make you different from the others. It is like people’s favourite color, or someone’s favourite band, choices like these do not completely define you so why should the rest.

My mum was used to tell me: Live and let people live. I have always thought this way and I think that everyone should. We live in a perfect bubble in which everything is perfect. We are used to more commodities that we actually need and we don’t realise what’s going on in other places. But Jamaica’s problem of violence against women is not going to be solved with a small and simple awareness campaign, it needs much more than that. The country’s roots are inextricably entangled with the nation’s political, social and economic woes. If they want to solve women’s problems, that means that they would have to solve many others starting with poverty and education. But it is going to take a long time having in consideration how important this is to their culture.