PM Browne: Males Lagging in Education, Women Leading in Home Ownership
Prime Minister Gaston Browne has voiced concern over what he described as a growing disparity between men and women in education and economic empowerment, noting that women are outpacing men in both academic achievement and home ownership in Antigua and Barbuda.
Speaking on his Browne and Browne radio programme, the Prime Minister shared an anecdote involving foreign visitors who had noticed the absence of men in a training workshop at the Ministry of Finance.
“They asked me how is it that there are no males there,” Browne said. “They’re doing a two-week workshop with some software. I was kind of embarrassed.”
Browne said the observation highlights a broader societal trend. “Our females are outperforming our men in terms of acquiring tertiary education,” he said. “We have been losing a lot of our males through youth delinquency.”
He said this underrepresentation is visible across government programmes. “Even in the second-chance programme we started to help adults matriculate and qualify — we show more females than males,” he noted.
The Prime Minister also pointed to housing as another area where women have taken the lead.
“I have entire streets with 15, 20 houses — and they are all owned by females,” he said.
While praising women for their determination and independence, Browne stressed the need for targeted interventions to help young men re-engage with education and skills training.
“We have to increase the level of public education and share insights with our people,” he said. “We want Antiguans and Barbudans to be globally competitive, and that requires all of us — men and women — to be empowered.”
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I agree. The young men in Antigua are falling behind and it is our fault as a society. They have been left to their own devices to lag behind and we have failed to hold them accountable for this. Time to make a change.
The government plays a role but more importantly each of us has a responsibility to help guide the boys and young men around us to achieve their full potential. Young men also need to revisit the way they see themselves, you are more than a weed smoking street bum, you have something of value to offer because you have value. Time for them to recognise this. Seek god, so good, stop womanizing and wasting your years on triviality. The young women around you are also depending on you to see your value and to keep up with them, they want good brother, fathers and spouses who can add value to their lives.
PS: Stop embarrassing the PM and the nation, take full advantage of the opportunities for growth provided by the government!
It’s simply cause and effect. In many cases women are being handed positions because of quid quo pro if we are being truthful. Back in the day men were first choice for opportunities, which was wrong, but now society has done a full 180 and it seems that equlity is no longer the aim.
They’re too busy worrying about whether women are dressed modestly, are wife material to ask themselves about their own value.
J’ Truth won’t talk about this.
The young men the world over are falling behind and not just in Antigua. In the Caribbean the phenomenon of the marginalization of males has been observed many years ago. It is perhaps getting worse and society must find ways of addressing it. When one looks at the University of the West Indies, one would observe that faculties such as law and engineering that were once dominated by male students are now dominated by females. That is a most compelling example of the seriousness of the problem. It needs to be addressed now and not later.
I can recall a few years ago I listened to a lecture by Professor Beckles on the issue of male marginalization and he touched on some of the societal consequences of women not being able to find male partners who compatible in terms of education. In that regard, Professor Beckles indicated that he would tell his daughter that having a partner who is not compatible in terms of education does not mean the male would not make a great husband. The societal consequences that can arise from the marginalization of males underscores the need even more for the problem to be subjected to serious study in an effort to find solutions.