It's 16 days of activism against domestic violence and after all the advertising, speeches and torch carrying with women at the center of the activities...eventually it had to come around to the problem with men. Ad what is the problem with men? Yes in a few cases they are the victims of domestic violence, but 9 times out of ten, when someone gets beaten in a home, it's a woman.
A recent study on men's behavior including 400 Belizean men and women, found 69% of the male respondents saying that it is okay to hit a woman if she has cheated on him. And that's why domestic violence activists figured that today they had to get men into the mix to find out what's going on in the mind of the modern man.
Jules Vasquez Reporting,
It's not everyday that you see a room full of mostly men gathered to discuss a problem that affects mostly women. And these men were selected because in one way or another, they are leaders, and today, the Women's Department asked them to be agents for change.
Carol Fonseca, Director - Women's Department
"The fact of the matter is that if we are to solve the problem, we need men to engage in the dialogue in terms of talking about the issue itself and finding the root causes of something that is really plaguing our society. What we have stressed this morning is the fact that attitudes, values, that have been engraved in our society for so long, need to examined and they need to be changed."
And to guide that behavioral and cultural change, the women's department has come up with handbooks and strategies.
Carol Fonseca,
"The Man to Man Guide that we are launching today has seven basic steps that focus on the way men should go about in terms of their relationship with women. And I think what it is, its all about new methods and new ways of how men should deal with situations that they come across in terms of when it comes to anger and reacting. What we're saying is that the time has really come for us to relearn the way that we react to situations within our country."
But no one truly lives by a handbook, and you certainly can't write a textbook for a relationship, or write a manual to govern sexual and human relationships.
Fermin Olivera,
"What happens between a man and a women is intimately personal but what we're saying is that that does not give people the right to cause harm to somebody else and clearly we also want to see how we can empower people to understand that 'I' do not need to be a subject of violence and that nobody owns me, so to speak. But that is probably easier said than done."
Carol Fonseca,
"So yes it's a very difficult thing we're asking but the fact of the matter, and I think we've come to the point in our society where men and women realize that this is something that we have to do."
Something that has to be done. That's a tall order, because the role of the male in society is very clearly but these discussants say it's not written in stone.
Steve Latchman,
"Our culture, our system, our way of life, our traditions has taught us to believe that man should be a dominant force in relationships and so on. I think we need to change and work towards removing this concept very quickly."
Fermin Olivera,
"Clearly what we're hoping for is more equity in relationships and we're hoping bring some awareness in this direction."
Equity is one thing, but behavioral and cultural change is another.
Jules Vasquez,
So how do you legislate or inculcate these high-minded thoughts into the everyday practices, the everyday exchanges between men and women?
Fermin Olivera,
"Well one of the things is education. I believe that we talk about it, we need to bring to the consciousness of people. This situation of violence within the home, as I mentioned, is rapidly escalating, we're seeing unprecedented levels of violence. Clearly we're living in a culture where violence is glamorized in movies, in fashion, and in you name it so I think it's the first step, we need to bring this awareness."
Steve Latchman,
"Men need to be men. Men need to play their role more forcefully and more usefully as far as the whole family structure is concerned."
That was a half-day session.
