New Gender Affairs Coordinator has great task ahead

Newly appointed Gender Affairs Coordinator Ms Lorolie Connor (Photo: GIS)

Transforming insensitive values held by some individuals within the society as it relates to gender into values that support gender equality is but one of the functions of the Gender Policy, which is being embraced by the Office of Gender Affairs (OGA).

This is according to recently appointed Gender Affairs Coordinator, Lorolie Connor. 

Ms. Connor in an invited comment revealed to the VI StandPoint that the OGA is currently in the process of acquiring the final draft on the National Gender Policy from the relevant consultants. She pointed out that once a report to this effect is received and all formalities are dealt with, the office will then have to go through the process of mainstreaming gender by implementing the functions of the Gender Policy.

In her capacity as Coordinator, Ms. Connor is tasked with developing and implementing the National Gender Policy; sensitizing the public service and the Territory to gender issues; reviewing policies, programmes and activities with a view to integrate gender in the Territory; promoting the legal framework to support and enhance the welfare of women, facilitating the implementation of the United Nations Convention for the elimination of discrimination against women and other human rights instruments as they relate to gender among other duties.

Her duties are expected to be greatly boosted with the implementation of the Gender Policy which will not only help to transform values in the society but also help to promote and recognize the value of women and men’s roles and contributions as agents of change and beneficiaries of the development process.

In addition the policy will serve to provide policy makers and other entities involved with human development with reference guidelines for identifying and addressing gender concerns when making policy decisions, Ms. Connor noted.

She explained too that the Gender Policy is also geared at transforming current conditions to achieve economic, social and physical security of men and women while at the same time promoting knowledge and information in support of gender equality.

It is also intended to help establish an institutional framework with a mandate to initiate, coordinate, implement, monitor and evaluate gender responsive development.

“As you can well imagine this will take a great deal of sensitization and training throughout the Territory but it is something that needs to be done,” Ms. Connor insisted.

Simultaneously, she noted that the Gender Affairs Office is dealing with the implementation of the Domestic Violence Protocol.

This is an instrument that brings the relevant stakeholders into working relationships using guiding principles with regards to handling victims of domestic violence against either male or female.

Ms. Connor’s task of taking up the reins of the Gender Affairs Office was made official on July 4, 2011, by Governor Boyd Mc Cleary who acted upon the advice of the Public Service Commission to appoint her to the office in the Ministry of Health and Social Development.

With a Bachelor of Science Degree in Social Work, a minor in Criminal Justice from the Atlantic Union College, Massachusetts, United States, and a Masters of Arts Degree in International Child Welfare from the University of East Anglia, Norwich England, United Kingdom, Ms. Connor is believed to be well equipped to take up her new post with much vigour and vitality.

She initially joined the Public Service in January of 1992 as a Social Worker assigned to the Department of Social Development.  However, she was subsequently re-assigned to the Rainbow Children Home when the facility was opened in 1997 where she served as the Superintendent up until her recent appointment.