issues when she arrives on March 8.

That day is International Women's Day, and local campaigners will be making the most of it.

This year the annual celebration has special meaning. Because 1994 marks the 50th anniversary of Bermudian women -- at least some of them -- being allowed to vote.

This year also sees a new head for the Women's Advisory Council, the official voice of the female half of the population.

Ms JoCarol Robinson takes over from Mrs. Kim Young as chair of the group, which advises the Premier on issues affecting women.

A 42-year-old mother of three, she is a top lawyer turned real estate executive.

She wants Government to tackle issues like stalking, violence in the home, equal pay for equal work and paid leave for workers enduring a family crisis.

She says: "I know that Kim, who is a friend of mine, always had a general feeling that this was the sort of body that ought to have a a fresh infusion of blood and ideas from time to time.

"It's an evolving body. What we do is try to stimulate debate and discussion about areas that we have identified as pertinent to Bermuda.

"For example, we don't necessarily find that we have sufficient legislation in place for particular things that seem to be increasing, like stalking situations, and issues that are really germane in women's lives like domestic violence, family leave legislation, pay equity and sexual harassment of teens.'' She would like to see changes to all laws that make unfair distinctions between men and women.

"We are not dealing with a world where the legal relationship of men and women is what it was,'' she says.

The way rape is investigated by Police, prosecutors and the judiciary is another issue she wants kept at the top of the public agenda.

"There seems to have been an over-compensation to the defendant,'' she says.

She also wants to see a wider role for the WAC, without encroaching on the immediate counselling work of the Women's Resource Centre.

Ms Robinson would like the WAC to be more open to women who want to discuss problems or offer suggestions -- maybe through a special telephone line.

Fashionably dressed and clutching a mobile phone, she seems full of the energy needed to reach such goals.

Born in the United States, she was a teenager during the civil rights and peace movements that dominated the 1960s. She was against the Vietnam war herself, although her father was a military officer.

"It made for very interesting dinner conversations,'' she recalls. She went to an all-women college in Massachusetts, which was "almost riotous'' with anti-war feeling. However, one of her fellow students was the daughter of Richard Nixon.

She trained as a lawyer in England, spending 1974-1980 in the UK. Then she came to Bermuda, where she has stayed ever since.

Her successful 11-year legal career included four years as an acting magistrate.

She then switched careers to give her more control of her time, and now sells real estate with Jones Waddington.

Her husband is Bermudian Mr. Kenneth Robinson, a partner in law firm Appleby, Spurling and Kempe. They live on the Garthowen estate in Devonshire with their 17-year-old son and two daughters, aged 11 and nine.

In her spare time, Ms Robinson enjoys scuba diving, horse riding and walking.

She believes women have made great progress in breaking down barriers to their development.

"Women are coming of age,'' she says. "They are not having to fight the firm stereotypes that men held. And they're not as restricted as far as their upward mobility is concerned.'' She feels education has been a powerful tool in the hands of recent generations, who built on the independence gained by women in the Second World War.

"I see an evolution. Women are taking control of their opportunities in life and the way they live their lives.'' NEW VOICE FOR WOMEN -- Ms JoCarol Robinson is the new head of the Women's Advisory Council.