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PM Stuart points to changing relationships

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BARBADOS has made significant strides to protect the family since gaining independence, but there is still some way to go.
 
Prime Minister the Right Honourable Freundel Stuart made the comments during a national consultation on the family recently, where he highlighted some of the changes that the Barbadian family structure has undergone over the years.
 
One of these changes, he noted extends to the role of the grandparents who are no longer playing an active role in the upbringing of their grandchildren. The Prime Minister also stated that whereas communities raised children in the past, they are now virtual ghost towns as persons go about their business daily.
 
The Prime Minister also pointed to the increase in the number of self-proclaimed single mothers, who assume the responsibility of absent fathers. “I usually have to challenge them because really you can’t be a single mother, but there is always a father somewhere who is not pulling his weight. It is amazing how often excuses are made for delinquent fathers and these single mothers are prepared to assume full responsibility for the rearing of their children.”
 
“ It is really an excuse for not putting the kind of pressure on the father that needs to be put, so that the burdens of family can be shared. That is another problem we have to deal with,” he said.
 
“That is why there has to be a collaborative relationship between Church and State and other organisations on these issues, because we need to meet people where they are,” he said.
 
Prime Minister Stuart highlighted the introduction of several pieces of legislation over the years that kept a number of families in good stead including the Family Law Act, the Succession Act, Maternity leave with Pay and the Domestic Violence Protection Orders Act.
 
As it relates to the latter, the Prime Minister said this mentality has its origins in our colonial past. “Violence against women was so deeply embedded in the psyche of our males. That mentality is still around. It is going to take some time to deal with it. Goes right back to the days of slavery, when men and women and children were all property. Just what our men saw slave masters do – they believe they have replaced slave masters.”
 
“We are trying to build a society. These islands that we occupy in the Caribbean were not intended for social living, they were designed for production and treated as such.
 
“The State has not been blind to the need to protect families, promote family life and stabilise families,” he said. (JH)
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