today will be women, The Royal Gazette has learned.

Today, 650 names will be gazetted when the new list of Government boards is released, a Government source said. And of those names, 199 will belong to women.

That is 29 more than the 170 women named to boards and commissions for 1994, the source said.

"Anthing in excess of what we had last year is obviously a step in the right direction,'' said Human Affairs Minister the Hon. Jerome Dill. "I've indicated by way of my Ministerial statement that women's issues are going to be a heavy agenda item this term.

"If the figure is in the vicinity of one-third, I take the view that that represents some progress, but more progress needs to be made. The workforce is 52 percent women.'' Mr. Dill said there were many reasons why women remained under-represented on boards, relative to the ratios of men and women in the Bermudian population.

Sometimes, it is a case of "familiarity'' -- or men choosing other men because that is who they feel comfortable with, "which as far as I'm concerned is a practice which ought to be discouraged.'' But also, "there are some women out there who rule themselves out...by choice,'' he said.

This does not mean they do not feel public service is important, but "in the overall scheme of things they rank other items of greater priority.'' Asked if this is in part because women tend to have a larger share of the child-rearing responsibilities than their spouses, Mr. Dill said: "I think to the extent that the Bermudian family has been stable over the years, it has been largely as a result of women's efforts.'' The Royal Gazette reported last week that Mr. Trevor Moniz MP will today be replaced by a woman as chairman of the Board of Education. Mr. Moniz has asked to step down.

In other changes to be announced today, long-time Tourism Board chairman Mr.

Kirk Cooper is to be replaced by Mr. David Dodwell MP. Mr. Cooper has also asked to be replaced. Mr. John Collis is to succeed the Hon. John Stubbs as chairman of the Telecommunications Commission.