April 6th 2026
The following statistic is from The Belize National Women’s Commission, 2025: “Between 2023 and 2024, Belize recorded over 2,500 cases of domestic violence, along with 50 cases of unlawful sexual intercourse and 34 cases of rape in 2023 alone.” Additionally, according to the Gender Based Violence Report completed by the Belize Crime Observatory,” Male victims lodged 139 cases or 16% of the total 885 cases registered by Police [in 2020].”
The increase in deaths from intimate partner violence highlights the central argument: there is an urgent, unmet need for effective intervention. Underreporting compounds the issue, demonstrating that systemic failures are preventing meaningful protection for victims and making solutions more difficult to implement.
GBV is an umbrella term for violence that takes many forms, particularly targeted towards those of marginalized identities. This may look like sexual assault, human trafficking, workplace harassment, catcalling, mental and social abuse, and much more.
High rates of GBV in Caribbean countries, including Belize, result from normalized cultural norms and gender inequality, perpetuating physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. Recognizing and dismantling these societal foundations is critical to reducing GBV.
Schools, workplaces, and other environments encourage and maintain traditional interception of masculinity. Children reinforce gender normative behavior among each other in forms of sexual harassment: unwanted sexual comments, jokes, gestures, and physical harassment (Brinkman, 2015). For the most part, these children will grow up and continue behaving in a dangerous manner. Unfortunately, most women I speak with share the sentiment of fear of being harassed or attacked when in public. If something were to happen, people fear retaliation, victim-blaming, or embarrassment for speaking up. The sexist behaviors act as recurring trauma that can contribute to major depression, generalized anxiety disorder, etc.
The government has a critical role in creating stronger systems that protect its citizens. Unfortunately, there are gaps in our system; therefore, preventative care is better than reactionary care.
Prevention starts with education from a young age, as social norms that influence GBV begin to form in early childhood.
Straight men and boys are taught to desire and hate women and girls simultaneously. This can manifest in catcalling. One minute, a man is calling you “fine,” saying “smile, you are beautiful,” and in the next, he can call you a “bitch” for ignoring his advances. They are examples of women being met with physical violence, sometimes even murder, for not giving a man their phone number. Men are not hardwired to be violent and entitled; they are socialized to be that way. We all learn from the patriarchy. GBV prevention strategies typically come in the form of annual workplace seminars and educational programs at The University of Belize and other college campuses. But these efforts are ineffective because they’re too little, too late.
Education and challenging gender norms play a central role in preventing gender-based violence. Promoting cross-gender interactions and counter-stereotypical activities, as well as conversations about sexism, empower young people to resist harmful societal patterns and create lasting change.
Gender roles have various impacts on our society. Data has shown that these stereotypes also shape children's lives in various ways, like boys who develop strong gender-stereotypical beliefs have lower standardized test scores and an increased risk for depression than other boys. Furthermore, girls with more stereotypical views get worse grades and behave in more sexualized ways than other girls. Finally, gender norms forcefully deny children opportunities to explore different activities and identities because of the shame induced by their peers through gender policing.
“Boy culture reinforces a cartoon character of a boy as a person who only has a hard side and doesn’t have a soft side...Thinking and feeling do not have a gender identity. We have gendered what is human. Boys have a soft side. They have the capacity to be sensitive and caring, just like girls and gender nonconforming kids.” (Way, 2013).
Digressing slightly:
Age-appropriate sexual violence education is available for pre-school to high school students to help identify, prevent, and report sexual violence. For instance, pre-school students can learn boundaries/consent and the proper terms for body parts, not “flower” or “pee pee”, it’s vagina and penis. So if they report to an adult about an inappropriate touch, they can clearly say, “Mom, that man touched my penis.” This makes communication clear, and we can move faster into interventions. The goal of education prevention is to help children learn to identify, prevent, and report GBV, thereby making a safer Belize for all. Who doesn’t want that?
Let's talk numbers real quick:
Building on early GBV education reduces risk factors for youth as they age. Ongoing lessons about consent, online safety, communication, and healthy relationships are essential to reducing gender-based violence in Belize.
Parents, guardians, and teachers must be aware of their biases. We all have biases. Before we can start challenging them, stay curious with yourself and see how your views and behaviors impact the youth around you. We are all in a constant state of learning and growing.
(2025). Apa.org. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2025/11-12/rethinking-masculinity
Belize Crime Observatory, & InfoSegura Project. (2021). 2021 Report on Gender-based Violence in Belize [Review of 2021 Report on Gender-based Violence in Belize ]. Belize Crime Observatory. chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://bco.wimp.bz/file_directory/files/gender_based_violence/2021ReportonGenderBasedViolenceInBelize.pdf
Belize Joins Caribbean Pact to Strengthen Domestic Violence Laws. (2024). Love FM Belize News & Music Power. https://lovefm.com/belize-joins-caribbean-pact-to-strengthen-domestic-violence-laws/
Bennett, M. (2024, March 7). Train Children on Sexual Violence Prevention. www.ue.org. https://www.ue.org/risk-management/sexual-assault-and-misconduct/train-children-on-sexual-violence-prevention/
Black, M.C., Basile, K.C., Breiding, M.J., Smith, S.G., Walters, M.L., Merrick, M.T., Chen, J., & Stevens, M.R. (2011). The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS): 2010 Summary Report. Atlanta, GA: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Hipolito. (2025, October 18). Domestic Violence in Belize: Recognising the Red Flags Before It’s Too Late. Greater Belize Media | GBM: Growing Together. https://www.greaterbelize.com/domestic-violence-in-belize-recognising-the-red-flags-before-its-too-late/
Inter-American Network for the Prevention of Violence and Crime > Recursos > Multimedios - Preventing teen dating violence - Inter-American Network for the Prevention of Violence and Crime. (n.d.). Www.oas.org. https://www.oas.org/ext/en/security/crime-prevention-network/Recursos/Multimedios/preventing-teen-dating-violence
Moyer, M. (2019, September 17). To stop sexual violence, we need to change how we engage with kids. Retrieved from The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/09/17/stop-sexual-violence-we-need-change-how-we-engage-with-kids/
The National Women’s Commission. (2022). Facebook.com. https://www.facebook.com/nationalwomenscommission/posts/every-statistic-unfortunately-represents-a-woman-or-girl-whose-life-has-been-aff/1260757249429614/
Way, N., Cressen, J., Bodian, S., Preston, J., Nelson, J., & Hughes, D. (2014). “It might be nice to be a girl... Then you wouldn’t have to be emotionless”: Boys' resistance to norms of masculinity during adolescence. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 15(3), 241–252. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037262