Paternity leave, a harmonised code of law for women’s rights and a compulsory training course on women’s rights for all Members of Parliament (MPs) were among the 28 recommendations contained in the report the Women and Gender Equality Commission recently submitted to Speaker of the National Assembly Dr. Barton Scotland.
In a recent interview with Sunday Stabroek, Chairperson of the Commission Indra Chandarpal said that the commission will now work on educating persons about the recommendations and engage stakeholders in an effort to have them implemented.
She pointed out that commission has 14 mandates, one of which is revisiting legislation and making recommendations. Consequently, the commission took a decision to review various legislations and hired attorney Melinda Janki as a consultant to do so. She reviewed all of the conventions as well as the sexual harassment legislation and looked at the Prevention of Discrimination Act. Stakeholder meetings were also held, and recommendations were received.