Dear Editor,
Guyana today stands as one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, driven by our booming oil and gas sector. Offshore, the focus is on barrels, profits, and production milestones, all driven by safety. But onshore, another reality unfolds: women continue to lose their lives to violence, and femicide has become an alarming national crisis.
This paradox should disturb us all. What use is national wealth if our women are not safe? Oil money can build highways, hospitals, and power plants, but it cannot buy safety for women unless we choose to invest it there.
While some corporate and community programs already exist, more comprehensive and sustained action is needed to ensure women are truly safe, empowered, and supported. Guyana’s growing oil wealth offers a unique opportunity for the government to partner with oil and gas companies to fund initiatives such as shelters, counselling services, survivor hotlines, community awareness campaigns, and programs to break cycles of abuse.
The truth is simple: a nation cannot call itself rich while its women are dying.
Sincerely,
Leah October
