The Centre for Gender and Development Studies, Mona Unit, will host two events addressing gender related issues. A panel discussion entitled “Conversations With Gender” will be held on Tuesday, November 28 Library at 11:00 a.m. in the Multifunctional Room of the Main. Mary Clarke, Children’s Advocate and Chief Justice Desiree Bernard will form part of the panel to discuss the emerging gender and development issues and the law.
The Centre will also hold the Biennial Lucille Mathurin Mair Public Lecture, which commemorates The International Day Against Violence Against Women 2006 on Wednesday, November 29, at 5:30 pm, at The Undercroft of the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus.
The Hon. Madame Justice Desiree Bernard O.R., C.C.H, the first female judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice of the Caribbean Court of Justice, will deliver the Lecture which is entitled “Confronting Gender-Based Violence in the Caribbean.”
Justice Bernard is Guyanese and a distinguished jurist who has served her country, the Caribbean and the Commonwealth with distinction. She is the recipient of Guyana’s Cacique Crown of Honour, and the Order of Roraima and was the first female High Court judge of the Supreme Court in Guyana, the first female Chief Justice, the first female Chancellor of the Judiciary and of the Commonwealth and has served as the first and only female President of the Organisation of Commonwealth Caribbean Bar Association (OCCBA). Chief Justice Bernard has also made valuable contribution to women and development. She was also the founding Secretary of the Caribbean Women’s Association (CARIWA), and was commissioned in the early 1980s to head the Commission on the Status of Women which led to significant legal reform in Guyana.
The Lucille Mathurin Mair Public Lecture honours Dr. Lucille Mathurin Mair, a distinguished Jamaican diplomat, historian and women’s activist. Dr. Mair served as Jamaica’s Ambassador to Cuba, represented Jamaica as the Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, and subsequently became the Permanent Representative in this capacity and also served the United Nations during the United Nations Decade for Women 1975-1985. Dr. Mair was also a member of the Senate and served as Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade. Additionally, she was the first Director of the Women‘s Desk in Jamaica, and the first Regional Coordinator of the Centre for Gender and Development Studies.