Guyanese men are on a mission to reposition the role of the male population in society by tackling issues such as violence against women and children, and taking on a more responsible role.
The ‘Men on Mission’ (MOM) initiative was launched on Friday evening by President Dr Irfaan Ali in the presence of hundreds of men from various section of society who will be leading this movement.
According to the Head of State, men have dropped the ball in families and societies but through the MOM initiative, Guyanese males are going to pick up that ball to support women and equally shoulder responsibilities.
“That is what mission is about, it is about shouldering that responsibility. It is about demonstrating a collective will to act. It is about demonstrating a collective understanding of the problem and it’s about demonstrating a collective idea or creating a new system – an institution that supports a modern society…” the Head of State said to the men gathered at the Guyana Defence Force Sports Ground, Camp Ayanganna.
“We are the root cause of much problems in society. It is now our time to be the root of solution, to be the root of positivity, to be the root that makes a difference, to be a root that builds a support system. Men on Mission will be the foundation to remove violence against women and children. This is not the responsibility for women, this is the responsibility for us to work with each other. We must make the change. We must drive the change. We must lead the movement of respect, we must lead the movement of dignity, we must lead the movement of pride,” he asserted.
Reversing societal failure
President Ali pointed out that MOM will focus on reversing the societal failure to confront critical issues affecting the male population and finding permanent solutions that will lay the foundation for better men in communities.
These complexities that this movement is seeking to address include the high school dropout rates among boys. Globally, more than half of the out of school youth population are boys.
In Guyana, the President disclosed that males also account for the largest cohort of school dropouts from the nursery to secondary levels.
Moreover, he pointed to the alarming figures at the University of Guyana, where over the past five years, only a mere 16,294 of the over 45,000 student population are males.
According to the Guyanese Leader, while Guyana is basking in its achievement of being placed 35 out of 146 countries in the recently published Global Gender Gap Report 2022, these trends involving the country’s male population are showing that something is wrong.
“We as men will be failing our societies and failing our communities if we believe that education is not important, if we believe that we don’t have a responsibility to educate ourselves… We need to address this as an urgent matter… That is why an important part of Men on Mission is to work with boys all across the country – and girls also – to ensure that we do coaching, mentoring, motivation to get back our boys and girls but especially our boys in school, in a learning environment and build back tehir positivity towards education and learning,” he contended.
Life expectancy
The Head of State went onto share that the life expectancy of men in Guyana, as well as around the world, is decreasing and this is solely due to their reckless actions and irresponsible lifestyle.
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has pegged the male life expectancy rate in Guyana as 65 years. In fact, global data shows that men mortality rate is four times greater due to external factors such as homicide. The male species also have a 75 per cent probability of dying from cardiac diseases.
Further, men worldwide account for approximately 73 per cent of the over one million people to die each year of traffic accidents. Similar trends are observed in Guyana where accidents are mostly caused by men and they too account for the highest road fatalities here. This is reflected in recent data gathered from the new electronic ticketing system set up along the Mandela Avenue Highway, which shows that some 95 per cent of the daily traffic offences were committed by male drivers.
With data showing that some 36 per cent of deaths among the male population being preventable, the Men on Mission will place emphasis on having this cohort adopt a more responsible and healthier lifestyle.
“If we all want to live at least 10 years beyond 60, we have to take action now. If you want to you’re your grandchildren grow up, you need to take action now. If you want to see the beauty and transformation of Guyana, you need to live to see it. We need to take action [and] we need to address this,” the president stressed.
He went onto highlight that men globally are more likely to die by suicide but still many males are not willing to accept that that they suffer from serious mental health issues. To this end, President Ali noted that the MOM movement is radical in its approach and will touch every male across Guyana.
“We are building a network that will reach you. We are mobilising from every field. We using the institutional structure of the regions – the health system, the army, the police, the Fire and Prisons Services, the religious community, civil society, the school system – all of these institutions will be unleased to match the systemic approach in addressing this issues,” the Guyanese Leader stated.
Forefront of changes
According to the Head of State, men need to be on the forefront of making these changes in society and through the MOM movement, he is hoping that Guyana becomes a global example in coming together to end injustices to women and be more responsible members of the community.
“We can postpone this problem to next generation or we can take the responsibility now. We can deny our sisters and mothers and wife and women in society, young girls, the opportunity of seeing a change now by our inaction or we can let them live and see these changes by our positive action. It is all up to us… We can only pave the way with good examples, good systems and if we do what is right. Today is our chance to do what is right, our chance to assume our role individually and collectively… Let us make our mark in creating a different Guyana…,” President Ali posited.
This Men on Mission initiative will involve one thousand men from various segment of society including the Joint Services, the sport fraternity, the entertainment industry, community workers, the religious fraternity, the business sector, etc.
