Policy change needed for female security personnel
DPI, Guyana, Thursday, August 24, 2017
Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection, Keith Scott said that with goals for National Development in the Private Security Service Sector, his ministry is committed to the Development of a ‘Decent Work Country Programme’.
The seminar for Security Service Providers on Thursday, focused on private security services within the area of national development; the role of the security services in safety and the economy; the impact of security services on single mothers and the elderly, also the social impact of the security services on men, among other topics.
Minister Scott noted that his ministry is extremely concerned with the work arrangement for female security personnel in the field and the effect it has on single mothers.
“Many days when I report for duty, I am pained and grieved to be greeted at 7:30am by a female security officer who had worked the night before.”
He continued, “It is unsure whether or not the Private Security Industry has carefully examined the impact which Night Work has had and continues to have on Women…”
Minister Scott also mentioned the issue of single mothers working night shifts; he recalled a Kaieteur News article about the molestation of a 17-month-old toddler while in the care of its father.
“I wish to submit without fear of contradiction that the level of danger to which the family is exposed increases astronomically when that family is headed by one parent only who happens to be the mother and has to work all night while her children are left unprotected, unsupervised and to the mercies of possible predators.”
Scott believes these are the kind of dangers family members are exposed to when single parents work at night.
The minister is calling for the development and implementation of policies to completely prevent women from working night shifts. “We should not wait for indisputable evidence before we seek to minimise or control the level of Night Work to which our women… are exposed”
By: Crystal Stoll