Hair comment not intended to hurt anyone - Shadick
Stabroek News
August 24, 2002
Minister in the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security, Bibi Shadick has said that her recent comment on the incident in which a woman, Anita Singh, had her tresses forcibly cut by armed bandits who had invaded her home was not intended to offend anyone.
Shadick had been widely reported to have expressed the view that the cutting off of a woman’s hair was worse than rape when she was interviewed on Channel 11 earlier this month in reference to women victims of the current crime wave, two of whom had reportedly been raped and another had her hair shorn.
Taking note of the response by several political organisations and individuals regarding her comment on the incident, Shadick said that she should not be the target of the attacks. “Instead, the bandits and the criminal elements who terrorise and harm our citizens, including women, must be condemned and rooted out from our midst.”
According to a press release issued through GINA, the minister stated that she wished to repeat her strong condemnation of such a disgraceful act and would urge those groups, including the PNC REFORM’s National Congress of Women (NCW), to join in condemning the outrage.
The NCW said this week that rape has always ranked among the most heinous of crimes that can be committed against women and regardless of their political, ethnic or religious beliefs and whether they come from modern or traditional backgrounds, women worldwide have with one voice condemned this brutal act of violation.
The release quoted Shadick as saying that it is surprising that these groups and individuals did not see it fit to condemn the beating and robbing of women on the streets of Georgetown, the bandits’ assault on the Melanie resident, and the burning of the homes of a Buxton family by criminal elements.
“Yet they were swift in condemning me for speaking out against such crimes,” Shadick commented.