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Friday, May 4, 2007 – “Men are bailing out from parental
responsibilities because they seemed overwhelmed by the pressures of social
deprivation and a lack of employment opportunities. “
Such was the feedback expressed by participants of the “Draft Country Conditions
of Living Survey of Saint Lucia” now going through a process of consultation.
The phenomena of 'missing men' referring to single parent families headed by
women was also placed under scrutiny in order to assess the impact of poverty on
the family.
One of the consultants attached to the study is sociologist Dennis Brown of the
Saint Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies. He says men too are
impacted on by the cycle of poverty. “Men are accused of not providing but I
think it is important for us to understand men themselves as the victims of the
circumstances that we are trying to describe.
“These are the views of the men: How can I take care of my family when I can't
afford? I have no money so I can't send the children to school. We have
families, we need money on a daily basis. As a man you have a family to feed,
bills to pay , it's a big stress on you.”
Brown said generally speaking the very young and the elderly are the two main
most vulnerable groups.“In terms of the young what our research has revealed is
that the young- that is to say those under 15 years of age , tend to be more
highly represented amongst the poor.”
He says the youth tend to carry a greater burden of deprivation in Saint Lucia.
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