Poverty is increasing among women

Kaieteur News – May 2, 2008

Minister within the Education Ministry, Dr Desrey Fox said that the feminisation of poverty is fast becoming popular and is resultant from various issues affecting women.

Dr Fox was speaking at the launch of the National Single Parent Register and commented on the fact that the majority of single parents are of the female gender.

“It is common knowledge that of all the single parents we have, few are men. The feminization of poverty is on the rise even in the United States and it extends to Guyana and the rest of the Caribbean,” Dr Fox said.

The Education Minister noted that from daily interfacing with parents, it is conclusive that women are solely responsible for the family’s welfare. “I have never seen a father who has come to me to discuss the education of a child,” Dr Fox remarked.  

A housewife’s dilemma – coping with the increasing cost of living

Kaieteur News – April 28, 2008
By Rustom Seegopaul

“Coducta, yuh gun stop me by de corna comin’ nah,” calls out Saleema Khan.

As she climbs out of the minibus onto the street, she thinks ahead of what she has to buy at the market – a mental list of the things she needs to buy for the house and for her family. These are the things that will have to take them through the coming week, and the list is already in her head.

As Saleema ventures into the market and hears the calls of vendors echoing through the passageways of the Bourda Market, she tightens her grip on her handbag, knowing that she holds the sustenance of her family for the coming week. She is careful with this money. With the price of just about everything going up, she knows she has to spend it wisely and that she cannot afford to be robbed.

She slowly walks from stall to stall, checking each stall’s prices before she makes a purchase. She is a member of the poorer class of Guyana’s people. Like most of the others within her demography, Saleema has a spouse with a low-income job, children to feed, and a house to run.

Prices of everything all around her are rising; from gasoline to rice, prices are higher.   

Teachers targeted to help register single parents

- to benefit from $100M fund

Guyana Chronicle – April 23, 2008

HEADTEACHERS of various schools, particularly in the nursery section, have been targeted by the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security to help in the single parents’ registration process countrywide.

A sum of $100M was allocated from this year’s Budget for the setting up of a fund to provide support to vulnerable single parents.

Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Priya Manickchand, yesterday met headteachers of several nursery schools in Georgetown to discuss the importance of their role in this process.

Minister Manickchand told the teachers at the North Ruimveldt Multilateral School that the Government recognised that single parents are most affected due to the increasing food prices.

More than 100 registration forms were distributed to the various teachers. A form will be given to each student who will ensure that their parents received it, and if in need, apply for the benefits.  

Health sector requires partnerships to realise MDGs

Kaieteur News – April 22, 2008

The media, as a partner with the health sector, has a critical role to play in understanding health issues before disseminating these to the public.

This is the view of local Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) Representative Dr Kathleen Israel.
Dr Israel was at the time commenting on the efforts that are being made to ensure that countries of the Americas are able to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which are aimed at reducing maternal and child health deaths by 2015.

According to the PAHO Representative, the Government by itself can in no way introduce and implement effectively all of the measures that are needed to be taken in order to realise the MDGs or any other public health goals.

She pointed out that there is always need for partnership, and added that it was for this reason that PAHO’s temporary Consultant, Dr Patricio Jamriska, had travelled to Guyana last week.  

Single-parent mothers to earn income through cake décor

Kaieteur News – April 22, 2008

With the aim of empowering local single-parent women to better care for themselves and their children, a cake decoration course is slated to commence this week; it will attract several of these women.

All fees for the programme will be paid for by the Benschop Foundation, which has for some time now been reaching out to a number of vulnerable persons in society to bring some level of relief through various means of assistance.

According to Public Relations Officer of the Foundation, Olive Gopaul, the programme will target ten unemployed women between Agricola, East Bank Demerara, and Georgetown.

She disclosed that the programme was conceptualized after it was observed that several single mothers are not in a position to be independent, although it is required of them.  

New horizons for teenage girls with children

Guyana Chronicle – April 17, 2008
Editorial

Teenage girls who became pregnant while at school, now have the chance in a life time to regain their self-esteem and face mainstream society with a new sense of hope and security that will dictate the path of their future. It has now become possible for these “unfortunate mothers” to re-gain their self-esteem and make their triumphal entry into mainstream society, through a programme launched to re-integrate teenage mothers into schools.

We welcome this initiative by the Ministry of Education and hope that these ‘unfortunate mothers’ who were forced out of the schools’ system would grasp at the opportunity that would enable them to face society in a dignified and independent manner later in life.

We subscribe to the view that several factors might have forced these young women to follow the path of destruction, but it is not too late for them to take corrective measures, and the Ministry of Education has cast the dice and it is for them now to take up the challenge. We do not believe that society should turn its back on these people, for the mistake they have made early in life. Instead we should do all we can to help them re-integrate in society in order for them to carry on with their lives in a moral and civilised manner.