A Male Talk Forum organized by National Committee for Families and Children was held today in Belize City. The forum discussed roles and contributions men have in society, specifically by catering for their families. Today we spoke with a member of the Parenting Task Force which is hosting the forum, Arthur Usher. He explained the issues that will be discussed.
Arthur Usher - Member, National Parenting Taskforce "Putting men in the discussion forum about some of the issues affecting families and children and how our roles define and complete this package of family. The discussion today is primarily around child maintenance and some of these other issues that affect generally the family but more particularly men. We're also hoping to deal generally with what constitutes some of our behaviours, some of our long time planning, why are we hindered by some of these issues, if we're hindered any at all, how do we see ourselves in the role of fatherhood, and unclehood, and brotherhood, within the society. While we would speak to our friends, our colleagues within small spheres about some of these same issues from time to time, you would not necessarily hear us on the media blasting anything, making noise, but these are issues that do affect us so it's not like we don't have a voice it's that our voice needs to be more projected to make an impact. Today we have approximately 15 to 16 men from varying backgrounds, varying economic and social sectors, different levels of education, so again these issues are cross cutting so it doesn't really matter which socioeconomic situation you're in, it's basically how does it affect you as a man so that's what we're trying to assess."
