Aundrene Cameron | Eliminate violence against women

The elimination of violence against women remains one of Jamaica’s most exhausted New Year’s resolutions. Nonetheless, its achievement remains an undelivered gift. This is because factors which contribute to the perpetuation of sexual violence remain entrenched in aspects of Jamaica’s culture.

Sexual violence is a learned phenomenon. Its starts in the home, but it is easily catapulted by culture. From dancehall music which denotes women as hypersexualised subjects, to the beliefs that “aggression” and “dominance” are masculine traits while “submission” and “meekness” are feminine traits. As such, many men are taught that women are sexual objects to be conquered, and that their conquest is a badge of honour to be stacked like trophies on display.

This creates a harmful dynamic where the sexual abuse of women becomes normalised, systemic, and underreported. While the abuse of men is ridiculed and even minimised. Consequently, this creates the circumstances which allows sex-trafficking across the region to thrive. It shapes a Jamaica where aggression becomes the cost of exercising bodily autonomy and where harassment and assault run rampant across churches, schools, workplaces, and homes.

Therefore, a more culturally sensitive approach must be taken to address gender-based violence. This requires the church and educational institutions to engage in the conversation on positive attitudes towards sex and gender. Without such engagement, children are left to learn about such topics through cultural expressions and peer groups. This makes it more likely for harmful understandings of sex and gender to be passed down.

Importantly, we also need to reform the very laws that minimise the experiences of sexual assault. Of particularly concern is the need to broaden the behaviours that would constitute rape and marital rape. We must also investigate more covert crimes such as sex-trafficking, for which barely 10 cases have been tried this past year.

Aundrene Cameron is Jamaica’s 2025 Rhodes Scholar. An attorney-at-law by profession, she is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Oxford.