(Barbados Advocate) – Police officers are being called on to be more sensitive towards crime against women.
According to Barrister Shirlan ‘Zita’ Barnwell, justice begins at the police station with investigating reports of offenses against women.
She was at the time delivering the Ninth Annual Milroy Reece Memorial Lecture, hosted by the National Organization of Women in partnership with the Department of Government, Sociology, Social Work and Psychology of The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus on Monday night.
The guest speaker, who hails from St Vincent and the Grenadines, was at the time giving examples of how women in her country have been dealing with the sometimes lackadaisical response of the police.
“I think it’s not unique to St Vincent and the Grenadines, but it’s across the region. You hear the complaints that police don’t do anything … I believe that it is necessary to address the culture of insensitivity that exists in our police force.”
Speaking on the topic “Women and Justice in the Commonwealth Caribbean: Is it really a woman balancing the scales of justice?” Barnwell also called attention to the notion of increasing the participation of women in Parliament. However, she queried “Is that a guarantee of itself for the empowerment of women?”
“Is it that by increasing our participation at the parliamentarian level, that this will allow us to see to implementation of gender equality laws and programmes aimed at advancing elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and girls?”
