Junor and Hughes ONLY 47 per cent of the country's annual registered births have the names of the children's fathers included at registration, the National Family Planning Board (NFPB) reported yesterday at its reproductive health conference for men only.
The conference, with the theme "Performance, Man-Power & Sexuality: the PMS Story", was put on at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston. It was called to address issues such as those which the NFPB believes are having a negative impact on gender relations and feeding into a culture of poverty and indiscipline. The NFPB indicated that it was concerned also that the mean age for first sexual intercourse among men 15 to 24 years was 13; that only 35 per cent of persons in tertiary institutions are men and that 95 per cent of the prison population is male.
Conference presenters such as Professor Hugh Wynter, NFPB chairman; John Junor, Health Minister; Dr. Wesley Hughes, director-general of the Planning Institute of Jamaica, and Professor Barry Chevannes, University of the West Indies dean, all spoke of redefining the man's gender role and expanding that role to include a partnership with women especially in the rearing of children.
They indicated that the definition of male "performance" should not be limited to sexual prowess, but should include male responsibility as father, partner and provider. Power and sexuality were also issues that men grappled with as they tried to gain control over their lives. But Prof. Wynter said that for some men, control over women offered them the power denied in other aspects of their lives.
Dr. Hughes said he was concerned about the men in the age groups 14 to 24 years (who represent the future of the society) and 45 to 65 who have moved up the ranks of industry and commerce but were technologically-challenged. These men, he said, now found that young women, who were better trained and more accustomed to new technology, were taking over their jobs. He said they resented women taking over and they internalised their problems and often became depressed, drank too much or abused their families and co-workers.
