Single mothers abuse more widespread than perceived, says NFPB
THE National Family Planning Board (NFPB) says that the plight of single mothers highlighted in Monday’s Jamaica Observer is more widespread than perceived and, in fact, is even prevalent among more affluent families.
Head of the NFPB, Dr Sandra Knight, told the Observer that research conducted by the board shows that decisions concerning sex were highly influenced by the bread winners or holders of power in the relationships. However, she said the more affluent find it easier to use their financial strength to sweep their problems under the carpet.
“The problem highlighted is something that goes right across the society and is more widespread than you think. But [it] is just that it is played out in different forms in different parts of the society,” Knight said.
She said the findings of the research have forced the NFPB to change its method of sex education counselling by reaching out to men.
“In the past, the method was to try and reach out to women, try to empower the women to make the right choices and decision, but we notice that we were not seeing much change in the data. What we found was that, even though the women were being educated, their decisions were still being influenced by men, who were most often the holders of power in the households,” said Dr Knight.
The women featured in the Observer story live in some of Kingston’s inner-cities. They said they are forced to care for their children — up to nine in one instance — on less than $300 a day.
The unemployed women, whose children were fathered by multiple men, said they are forced to engage in sexual intercourse with the fathers before they get monetary support for their children.
Psychiatrist Geoffrey Walcott said that, even though Jamaica is one of the countries that is probably leading in terms of women’s rights — equal work to equal pay — studies have shown show that the society still has an oppressive mindset as it relates to women across the board. This, he said, was more prevalent in the lower socio-economic groups.
He explained that in many of the poorer communities, while women were being empowered, their decisions were still largely influenced by the men who they have to depend on for financial support.
