Bureau of Gender Affairs to Host Sexual Harassment Sensitisation Sessions
By: , December 9, 2016The Key Point:
Photo: Melroy Sterling
Director of Policy and Research at the Bureau of Gender Affairs, Sharon Robinson, who represented Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Hon. Olivia Grange, speaking at Monday’s (July 11) Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) exposition at Morant Villas in Morant Bay, St. Thomas, to mark World Population Day. The event was held under the theme ‘Investing in Teenage Girls; Engaging Men and Boys’. (FILE)The Facts
- A session is scheduled to take place on Saturday, December 17, at Casa Maria Hotel, St Mary, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. It is being organised by the Bureau, in collaboration with the Social Development Commission and the South East Regional Health Authority.
- Speaking at a recent Jamaica Information Service (JIS) ‘Think Tank’, Director of Policy and Research at the Bureau, Sharon Robinson, said the sessions are necessary because of the Sexual Harassment Act that is coming very soon.
The Full Story
The Bureau of Gender Affairs will be embarking on a series of sexual harassment sensitisation sessions across communities islandwide.
A session is scheduled to take place on Saturday, December 17, at Casa Maria Hotel, St Mary, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
It is being organised by the Bureau, in collaboration with the Social Development Commission and the South East Regional Health Authority.
Presentations are to be done on the Sexual Harassment Bill and Policy, and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) C 189 ratification and benefit to the household workers and union, clerical, administrative and supervisory employees.
There will also be presentations from representatives of the National Task Force against Trafficking in Persons and the Centre for Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse.
Speaking at a recent Jamaica Information Service (JIS) ‘Think Tank’, Director of Policy and Research at the Bureau, Sharon Robinson, said the sessions are necessary because of the Sexual Harassment Act that is coming very soon.
“We have been doing sensitisation with household workers and we will ramp it up some more,” she added.
She said that Jamaican household workers are extremely vulnerable and at higher risk of being harassed sexually, “because they work in the home where they are at the mercy of their employers”.
Ms. Robinson said the Bureau will also host sessions that deal with gender-based violence and trafficking in persons.
“Trafficking in persons has really taken on a whole new dimension, with more persons going missing,” she said, adding that persons often become victims when they assume that “somebody has provided an opportunity for them which they think is lucrative and they might not have said it to anyone, but just gone off on their own.”