LETTER OF THE DAY - A country in need of real men
published: Monday | May 23, 2005

THE EDITOR, Sir:

KOFI ANNAN, the secretary-general of the United Nations, on a visit to India on April 27, 2005, lamented that the problem of HIV/AIDS was acquiring a 'woman's face'. Coupled with this, Save the Children in their latest report on the State of the World's Mothers, 2005, entitled 'The Power and Promise of Girls' Education', gave some chilling statistics on women. The report stated that worldwide, 103 million children of primary school age do not attend school and of that number, 58 million or 56 per cent are girls. It further stated that many girls who enrol in primary school leave after one or two years of education. Also, that two-thirds of illiterate adults are women.

That HIV/AIDS is becoming a woman's disease ought to signal to some men the role they are playing in the lives of women in a somewhat negative way. But women also have a responsibility. While traditional gender roles have rendered some women economically powerless and subservient to their male companions, in the face of these real threats they must develop a paradigm shift. Research has shown that an increase in education fans the flame of hope, prosperity and upward mobility. It also dims the light of stigma and myths associated with the HIV virus that is posing a threat not only to the survival of Jamaica and Jamaicans, but to all the developing countries of the world.

As the spotlight is turned on women, we as men could stop and rethink our role in a society that is calling for our cooperation and leadership. As we all face the societal challenges of crime, disorder and economic hardship, many of our women are becoming a mighty force to be reckoned with. Maybe in disabusing ourselves of many of the notions of manhood, we could become more sensitive to the obstacles we face and therefore respond to the beckoning of a country that is in need of real men.

I am, etc.,

MARK MCKENZIE

Kingston 6