Welcome to the webpage for the Young Business and Professional Women’s Club Sexual Harassment and Stalking Taskforce. The Taskforce has been created to investigate, assess and provide the necessary legislative recommendations as they relate to the protection of victims of sexual harassment and stalking in the Cayman Islands.
The Young Business and Professional Women’s Club is a division of the Business and Professional Women’s Club, Grand Cayman (“BPW Club Grand Cayman”) and is an organization aimed at professional women between the ages of 18 and 35. BPW Club Grand Cayman has been in existence in the Cayman Islands for over 25 years and has previously worked with past governments towards formally addressing the negative effects of domestic violence and in developing legislation in the Cayman Islands to address these issues. BPW International continues to be known both locally and internationally as ‘the voice of women in the workforce’ and is the largest women’s organization in the world. As an arm of this organization, we in the Cayman Islands now wish to again make our voices heard with respect to the threats of sexual harassment and stalking on the community as a whole.
In July 2003, the Young BPW Club held a panel discussion at the George Town Town Hall on the subjects of sexual harassment and stalking. The event was well attended and proved very valuable as it created for the first time a public discussion on the existence of these issues in the Cayman Islands. The negative social and personal effects such activities have on the individual, and, more importantly, the inadequate state of the local legislative framework as it currently exists in the Cayman Islands, were discussed.
The Young BPW Club has decided through the formation of the Taskforce to attempt to change the existing state of affairs by investigating and developing a comprehensive proposal with a view to presenting our findings and legislative recommendations to the Cayman Islands Government and members of the public.
In May 2005 members of the Young BPW Club and other interested young professionals were invited to sit on a Young BPW Club Taskforce which was being created to focus on the issues of sexual harassment and stalking. The invitation was very well received and at present there are approximately 40 young men and women participating in the Taskforce. The Taskforce has been divided into two Groups in order to facilitate its aim:
1. Group 1 will research and gather data on the extent of the problem of sexual harassment and stalking in the Cayman Islands in order to present a persuasive report on the need to change the laws of the Cayman Islands;
2. Group 2 will analyse the existing legislative framework in the Cayman Islands to determine its deficiencies and will draft new proposed legislation where necessary so that victims of sexual harassment and stalking in the Cayman Islands are afforded the necessary protection under the law.
An informal repeat of the July 2003 seminar was held in July 2005 to give Taskforce members an overview of the situation in the Cayman Islands. The Taskforce has met on a monthly basis since July of 2005 and has formulated a clear action plan for the project ahead. Although it is clear that much needs to be done, we are well underway in carrying out our plan of action.
In connection with Group 1’s objectives, please note as follows:
a. the Taskforce has contacted various resource organizations by mail to notify them of the existence of the Taskforce and to request information from them that may be relevant to our initiatives and will be providing updates on our progress periodically;
b. the Taskforce has invited certain resource organisations to attend our monthly meetings to gain an understanding of the working of the Taskforce and to provide input to us on our current projects;
c. the Survey Sub-Committee of the Taskforce has developed a stalking and sexual harassment survey in order to obtain information from the general public. The survey will be distributed on the 25 August, 2006 in the Caymanian Compass and available to the public for a 4 week period on our website and at the Women's Resource Centre, the Cayman Islands Crisis Centre, the RCIP Family Support Unit and the Department of Counselling Services. The survey has been through two rounds of formal piloting sessions, and input has been sought from university professors, a local professional with statistics experience, and other ‘experts’ whose input may have been relevant to the development of the survey. The data will be used to assist with the educational campaign the Taskforce will be launching later this year and with the development of legislative recommendations. A report based on the survey findings will be presented to the Cayman Islands Government and will be made available on our website: www.protectcayman.com;
d. the Educational Campaign Sub-Committee of the Taskforce is in the process of preparing to launch an educational campaign with practical information to the public on the issues of sexual harassment and stalking, and this campaign will be launched on or about 25 September, 2006 (ie beginning on the cut-off date for the survey). It was felt that in raising the issues of stalking and sexual harassment with the public, the Taskforce also had an obligation to educate the public on what the issues were and practical ways victims can deal with these issues. The Taskforce did not want to taint the views of the public prior to distributing the survey by launching the educational campaign in advance.
In connection with Group 2’s objectives, please note the following:
a. in January 2006 the Taskforce convened a Panel Discussion consisting of representatives from the legal community, the police force, social workers, the Women’s Resource Centre, the Cayman Islands Crisis Centre, counselors, Department of Children and Family Services, the Labour Tribunal and the Cayman Islands Law School in order to analyse the existing legislative framework in detail and to determine where deficiencies existed and what could be done to improve the situation in the Cayman Islands (an outline of the January 2006 seminar and attendee list can be found on our website www.protectcayman.com);
b. Group 2 of the Taskforce has been divided into 3 sub-groups, each sub-group consisting of roughly 8 lawyers, in order to conduct a review and comparative analysis of 12 jurisdictions with legislation relating to sexual harassment and stalking (each sub-group will look at 4 countries over a 4-6 month period). The sub-groups meet on a regular basis to discuss and review a specific country’s laws, including legal commentary on such laws to determine what aspects of such laws are or are not working in those jurisdictions. It is anticipated that this review will be completed by the end of 2006;
c. in early to mid 2007, Group 2 of the Taskforce will meet together to assess the results of the data compiled by the survey and the other research gathering exercises conducted by Group 1, with the aim of providing legislative recommendations to the Cayman Islands Government on ways to amend our existing laws.
We hope that the public appreciates that our efforts are an attempt to protect Cayman, i.e. Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, and that the community in general will be willing to help us to help them. The public’s participation is very important and is encouraged!
If you would be willing to volunteer to help the Taskforce please let us know by email to protectcayman@yahoo.com and a member of the Taskforce will be in touch in due course.
Thank you for your interest and if you have not already done so, please support our cause by purchasing a “PROTECT” band.
Thank you!
Yours sincerely,
Young BPW Club Sexual Harassment and Stalking Taskforce
Joannah Bodden Small, Chairman
Email: Joannah.Small@maplesandcalder.com
