Ministry of Legislative Affairs and Women's Issues.

The Minister responsible, Government Senate Leader Lynda Milligan-Whyte , provided an overview of the department starting with its mandates which included managing Government's legislative programme and co-ordinating policy and advising on matters relating to women's issues.

The department's initial role was to assess the status of women in Bermuda, said Sen. Milligan Whyte, as it did not want to make changes without understanding where women were.

This was why the department had originally received low funding but it did not need more because it did not know what it would introduce.

Meanwhile it had been active with Legislative Affairs pushing 18 pieces of legislation through the House of Assembly during the last session.

When the department received a fund increase it was pumped into heightening public awareness regarding women's issues.

Discrimination against women, she continued, violated the principles of human rights.

A task force continued to review the status of women in different areas and provided interim reports to the Cabinet which resulted in social legislation with far reaching implications for Bermuda.

This included the Domestic Violence Act to combat the coincidence of domestic violence in Bermuda which was unbelievable considering the Island's size, she said.

Government would not tolerate this as it led to the children being raised in the violent environment becoming future perpetrators.

And the Stalking Act, continued the senator, was another timely piece of legislation which shattered the belief of many Bermudians that this type of crime was acceptable.

The Act made it abundantly clear that this behaviour was criminal and allowed the victim of a stalker to apply for a protection order.

The order could also be filed by a third party which was beneficial, said Sen.

Milligan-Whyte, because quite often victims were too afraid to file one for themselves.

A Code of Practice for employers was due to come to the Senate shortly for debate, she continued, and this would hopefully eliminate gender discrimination in the workplace.

Employers were offered the opportunity to follow the Code voluntarily and it would provide detailed information and guidelines for them to follow in different situations ranging from interviewing prospective employees to dealing with harassment claims from their staff.