These allegations from a handful of women are among an estimated thousands of sexual harassment cases nationwide and have added fuel to the fire of outrage against Justice Minister Delroy Chuck, who, last Thursday, said that he would not support claims being filed more than a year after an offence.
Chuck’s chuckling dismissal of #MeToo, a three-year-old global movement hatched in the United States that has called sexual harassers to book for decades of exploitation, has stoked a social media firestorm here in Jamaica.
While not joining calls for the minister to resign, Wedderburn said that he should demonstrate true contrition by going back to Parliament to advocate for a minimum of six years for persons who have suffered sexual harassment to come forward with complaints.
Wedderburn said that Chuck’s statement last Thursday was unacceptable and displayed tone deafness to the trauma women faced daily.
“I heard no empathy with or understanding of the insecurity, fear, stress, and shame that unwelcome physical touching, verbal taunting , subtle and obvious pressure for unwelcome sexual activities and other forms of harassment can have over a long period on the physical, mental, and emotional health of victims/survivors, in most cases women,” she wrote.
