Representatives of the YBPW Club encourage support for recent charity walk.
According to the Young Business and Professional Woman's Club, (YBPW) there is inadequate legal protection for men and women in the Cayman Islands who may experience stalking and/or sexual harassment.
As a result the organization said it has formed a Taskforce to investigate, assess and provide recommendations on ways to change existing local laws. At present, the Taskforce consists of approximately 40 men and women from a wide range of professional backgrounds.
"There is very little publicly available information on the subjects of stalking or sexual harassment in the Cayman Islands and the main way in which the Taskforce will obtain information from the general public on the issues is through the distribution of a survey on the topics of sexual harassment and stalking in the Cayman Islands," The Young BPW's club said.
The research for the survey began earlier this year and the Young PBW club has been campaigning and organizing fundraisers throughout the year in order to make the initiative a reality.
The Taskforce has been divided into two groups. The first will gather data on the extent of the problems of sexual harassment and stalking in the Cayman Islands and provide educational information to the public on the issues.
The second group will analyse the existing legislative framework in the Cayman Islands to determine its deficiencies and to conduct a comparative analysis of the laws of other jurisdictions. With these results the second group will provide legislative recommendations on ways to amend the laws of the Cayman Islands in order to provide adequate protections to victims of sexual harassment and stalking in the Cayman Islands.
"Both Groups have made tremendous progress in their respective initiatives and the Taskforce has now reached a most important stage in this campaign here in the Cayman Islands," the club said.
Between 25 August and 25 September residents are invited to participate in the survey which is available online at www.protectcayman.com/survey or by completing a printed survey form available at the Women's Resource Centre, the Cayman Islands Crisis Centre, the RCIP Family Support Unit and the Department of Counselling Services. Return envelopes are provided with printed surveys and no postage is required to return the completed surveys to the Taskforce.
The YBPW Club said the survey is confidential, all responses will remain completely anonymous and no identifying information is requested.
A report based on the survey findings will be presented to the Government the club said.
