Educate people about marital rape to give the law teeth, Wedderburn suggests

 

Gender and Development Researcher Judith Wedderburn has said educating women and men about the amendments to the Sexual Offences Act, which will now make marital rape a crime, is the first step to giving the law teeth.

 

Ms Wedderburn said for the law to be successful, women must also know that they have support. She said this can be done through enforcement of the law when a complaint is made. 

 

"I think we need to send a message to women in church communities, in committed marriages, that there is support for them...that they can reach out. There is the Bureau of Gender Affairs and women's organisations and I have experienced a few men in churches who really want to understand how to do this, and so they will have to be included in the conversation," she suggested. 

 

The recommendation to make marital rape a crime was made by the parliamentary committee which reviewed Jamaica's sexual offences laws.

 

The report from the committee was approved in the Senate on Friday.

 

At present a Jamaican woman can only complain that she has been raped by her husband in very limited circumstances. 

 

These include if the husband and wife have split and are living separately, if divorce proceedings have been instituted, if there is already a court order in place against the man for non-cohabitation or if the husband knows he is suffering from a sexually transmitted disease.