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Ayanna Webster-Roy, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for Gender and Child Affairs. – File photo by Faith Ayoung
MINISTER in the Office of the Prime Minister Ayanna Webster-Roy says research has shown that many victims of domestic abuse stay with their perpetrators for financial reasons.
She made the statement on April 30 while addressing exhibitors at a Women’s Entrepreneurial Development and Product Expo on the Scarborough Esplanade, Tobago.
The expo, which featured more than 50 exhibitors, was hosted by the Gender Affairs Division, Tobago House of Assembly and Central Administrative Services – Tobago. A similar initiative was held at the Centre of Excellence, Macoya, in March.
Webster-Roy, who is responsible for gender and child affairs, said the initiative was conceptualised as a platform for women to showcase their businesses and services as well as network with various agencies to get support.
“But at the core of this initiative is highlighting a very fundamental issue – women’s empowerment. and seeing the linkages between women’s empowerment (and) economic empowerment as it pertains to domestic violence as to why some women return to their perpetrators,” she said.
“We would have had experiences where some women, after they transition out of our domestic violence shelter, even though they may not have returned to our shelter they might her re-entered into a different shelter or would have become clients of another shelter.
“And when we did our research, we realised that some of those women were dependent on the perpetrators. So we wanted to create an opportunity for them to develop and nurture themselves.”
