Violence against women and girls is a global epidemic, with governments around the world constantly seeking new ways to tackle it.
Bermuda is no exception. A steering committee focused on domestic abuse reform was recently appointed and there are plans for a specific domestic violence bill to be tabled in Parliament before the summer.
One question perhaps worth considering during consultation on the topic is whether the island should follow Britain’s headline-grabbing plan to introduce anti-misogyny lessons for schoolboys.
The UK government, announcing its scheme late last year, insisted it would ensure the “next generation of girls will be better protected from violence” and that young males would be steered away from harmful misogynistic influences.
Laurie Shiell, executive director of Bermuda’s Centre Against Abuse, praised the proposal as a “positive, evidence informed step”.
She said: “Domestic abuse and sexual assault are gender-based crimes: they disproportionately affect women and are rooted in unequal power, gender norms and misogyny.
“Early education that challenges entitlement, sexual objectification and norms condoning coercion do play a vital role in helping to prevent the attitudes and behaviours that lead to violence.”
Ms Shiell said Bermuda would benefit from a comparable school-based programme but stressed it needed to be part of a broader prevention strategy.
“Teaching respectful relationships, consent and nonviolence can reduce risk factors associated with domestic and sexual abuse and help build strong bystander norms,” she said.
“However, school-based lessons alone are unlikely to produce sustained population-level change, unless they are embedded within a coordinated, multi-sector approach that includes enhanced support services for adults, including parenting programmes, workplace policies that address gender inequality and misogyny, and a government-led task force with an accompanying national awareness campaign.”
Target the root cause
Juanae Crockwell, executive director of the Women’s Resource Centre, agreed the intent of the UK plan was positive.
“Its potential impact will largely depend on the curriculum itself,” she added.
“Based on what has been outlined, the focus appears to be on promoting healthy relationships, consent, respect and responsible digital behaviour, rather than simply labelling misogyny as a disciplinary issue. That distinction matters.
“When education is designed to build socio-emotional skills and challenge harmful norms in a developmentally appropriate way, it has a greater chance of addressing the root causes of gender-based violence, rather than responding to harm after it has already occurred.”
Debi Ray-Rivers, founder and executive director of Saving Children and Revealing Secrets, a child sexual abuse prevention charity, suggested school-based schemes could only go so far and advocated a “360 approach”.
“To get to the roots of misogyny, we must start with the home,” she insisted. “Hurt people go on to hurt people. If abuse begins and occurs in the home, how can schools help?”
She said any money spent on anti-misogyny lessons for youngsters “should be mirrored to the amount of money spent on training and awareness for parents and guardians of children”.
Ms Ray-Rivers added: “We can tell a child not to do something until the cows come home, we can invest millions in curriculums in consent and the dangers of sharing intimate images, but this message must be reinforced at home.”
Bermuda’s education minister hasn’t yet commented on the UK plan, but Ben Smith, the new One Bermuda Alliance leader and shadow education minister, “strongly” backed it.
Mr Smith said: “I believe Bermuda should seriously consider adopting a similar approach.
“We cannot ignore that misogyny, gender-based violence and toxic online influences are shaping how many young men form their ideas about women, relationships and masculinity.
“Early intervention matters, because these attitudes do not suddenly appear in adulthood. They are learned, normalised and, too often left unchallenged, they create an unhealthy culture.”
Gender expectations
Explaining its plan, the UK Government pointed to the need to counter the influence of popular male influencers who share misogynistic content, such as Andrew Tate.
Carla Zuill, a Bermudian entrepreneur living in the UK, said: “A few years ago, at my son’s high school in Manchester, students were asked not to discuss the views of Tate in the classroom because it was obvious that his view of women was not the most positive.
“It was literally like he had young men in a chokehold.”
Mother-of-three Ms Zuill added: “The fact that lessons like this have to be implemented in the UK system says a lot about how we have declined as a society as a whole.”
She welcomed the idea of the classes but also felt learning at home was key, recognising that she had to readjust her own parenting after her daughter pointed out that she placed different domestic expectations on her children, according to gender.
“As a mother of two sons who are 16 and 20, I always taught them that women are to be respected at all times and in all circumstances.
“I trained them from a young age to hold doors open for women and have had endless discussions with them about ensuring that they do not see females as the weaker sex.
“But yet I still subconsciously was sending them the wrong messages around gender roles.”
In Bermuda, the Centre Against Abuse, along with the Family Centre and Beyond Rugby programme, is already piloting a Coaching Boys into Men scheme.
Ms Shiell said it targeted young male and female athletes with an emphasis on building respect, integrity and nonviolence, teaching consent, reducing insulting and sexualised language and behaviour, discouraging bragging about sexual reputation and helping participants recognise when anger or aggression crosses the line into abuse.
She said anti-misogyny education needed to focus on positive masculine role models and not shame boys, as well as create safe spaces for them to express vulnerability and, importantly, be “delivered consistently, over time”.
Ms Shiell explained: “CBIM is an evidence-based programme that is explicitly designed to engage boys constructively over a period of time and thus mitigate alienation.”
