An offensive video posted by the Ministry of Gender and Child Affairs depicting the rights of children and young people was taken down yesterday in the face of criticism that it ignored the role of a father.
Minutes after the video was brought to the attention of Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister (Gender and Child Affairs), Ayanna Webster-Roy, it was taken down from the ministry’s website.
President of the Single Fathers’ Association Rhondall Feeles condemned the cartoon video, which originated from the United Nations and was reposted on Wednesday on the ministry’s website.
“We will take it down because gender issue is not a woman’s issue. If we focus just on women we would never get ahead,” Webster-Roy said.
She said the aim of the ministry was to develop a society that “respects and understands the various roles men and women play. I always stress how important it is to have positive male role models in the life of children and families.
“If the video is indeed offensive and displays a negative light, I would have it removed by my communications department and issue something that is more sensitive to gender issues,” she added.
Questioned on who uploaded the video, Webster-Roy said she was not sure “which end it came up from... if it came up from communications... but my permanent secretary said she would look into it as well.”
In the future, the minister promised all videos would be vetted before they were posted.
While the video highlighted the rights of the child, Feeles said it excluded the father’s presence which he described as “offensive and disturbing.”
He said the video was discriminatory and showed bias towards men.
“In the video it stated that in order for children to be healthy they need a mother, education, trees, a place to play, friends and the environment but no mention of a father was made. Even a tree was more important than a father. That is why some of the things are happening in society today,” Feeles added.
He said while there have been calls by society that fathers took a more pivotal role in the lives of children, the video left much to be desired.
“When young boys look at videos like these and they don’t see men as a part of the family circle, what do you expect will happen in society.
“When young girls look at this and see only women in the video what picture are we truly painting? It’s a negative post towards the male community and as a result may in fact erode the efforts of both male and female organisations who have been trying to bring men and women together,” Feeles added.