Protect the next generation of women Judith P. Nembhard, PhD.

MAY WAS National Child Month, and there was a month-long focus on children, some of it quite heartening, but the month had barely ended when the nation was shocked by one of the worst atrocities ever perpetrated against a defenceless child.

A three-year-old girl was forced to drink poison and was thus robbed of her life and the chance to grow into productive womanhood. This crime brought us face to face with the need for wide-eyed alertness to the rampant abuse of our children and the imperative to do something to combat it.

The same senseless rage that deprived a helpless little girl of life is at work to destroy the adult woman. It is a lurking evil against which we are obligated to do everything we can to protect defenceless little girls so that they can grow up to become secure, self-assured women.

What can we adults - both men and women - do to help protect and preserve our girl children? We can begin by giving them what they need most -- love. A child needs to grow up with home love as well as community love. Surrounded by love, she feels comfortable and accepted, secure and defended. Love helps her to develop good mental health and a positive attitude about herself and toward others. It isn't easy to take advantage of such a child.

Every little girl in this island should be able to feel safe. It is the responsibility of adults to create a safe environment for them, but so often it is adults who make their lives unsafe and miserable. Therefore, we must be on the alert in our communities for any sign of negative behaviour toward young girls and report it to the proper authorities. This effort requires everyone's co-operation.

Then, through words backed up by our actions, we must give to our little girls a sense of self that will enable them to walk the world with pride and confidence. We cannot leave them to fend for themselves, getting by as best they can. They need constant adult supervision, lessons in living and moral training to help them to respect their bodies and to have others acknowledge their right to their private space.

From the adults in their lives they should learn that they are special, made in the very image of God with the potential for achieving anything that they dare to dream. When we invest time and effort in training these little ones in the right way we are investing in the future because today's little girl is tomorrow's woman.

If we want to break the cycle of violence against women, we must begin by breaking it against our little girls. Let us send out positive images for them to emulate, images that will strengthen their sense of self and the value that they place on their persons. Women's groups that are calling for a more responsible way of feeding images to our young girls are definitely on the right track and deserve wide support.

What we do for our little girls will help to shape the future for Jamaican women. We must prepare women of strength who will model positive social values. A strong woman will not allow herself to be brutalised in any way. She will not tolerate mental, physical and verbal abuse being heaped upon her simply because she is woman. Her whole life will have been a preparation for womanhood; thus, she will be ready to stand proudly and successfully in her place.

Judith P. Nembhard is a retired educator and publisher of SisterS Magazine.

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