Bermuda has not made any significant progress on women's issues in the last decade.

Founder of the women's research and development group Akinstall Foundation Ms Valerie Akinstall made this charge after returning from the UN-sponsored Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China.

Ms Akinstall said she was the only woman from Bermuda who stayed in Beijing for the entire conference and therefore had the opportunity to participate in closed workshops which involved the conference's draft on resolutions.

A handful of other local women, including Community and Cultural Affairs Minister the Hon. Yvette Swan and Opposition Sen. Neletha Butterfield, spent most of their time attending the Non-Governmental Organisation forums in Huairou which is about one hour and 15 minutes from Beijing, she claimed.

As a result of this, Ms Akinstall said, there was a lot missed.

"One got to see the inner works of how things work in the UN,'' she said.

"The final resolution will be out at the end of this month.'' "How often do you get an opportunity to network with between 100 to 130 countries?'' she said.

"We could have sent Bermuda bankers, Bermuda Small Business representatives, health officials, lawyers, and organisations who are interested in human rights.'' Ms Akinstall noted that she saw women from enemy countries like Iran, Iraq, and Kuwait worked side by side on issues such as the inequality of inheritance by boys and girls in those Islamic countries.

Sitting six seats behind the group, Ms Akinstall said: "I was so impressed with their ability to get across women's issues.'' She said she was most impressed by the special envoy and advisor to the president of Iran Ms Shahla Habibi, Pakistan's Prime Minister Mohtarma Benagir Bhuotto, US first lady Mrs. Hillary Clinton, and the president of the Jordanian National Committee on Women Princess Basma Bint Talal, who is the sister of Jordan's King Hussein.

Ms Akinstall said she was also overwhelmed by the knowledge of some of the women from the poorest African countries.

"The African women came knowing what the issues were,'' she said. "Even some of them from the poorest countries, including Chad and Ethiopia, were fully prepared. They were able to get up and articulate issues, while we in Bermuda have yet to define the issues.

"I don't think we have made any significant stride since the Women's Advisory Council was set up in 1987.'' Noting that Women's Affairs Minister the Hon. Lynda Milligan-Whyte has vowed to address issues affecting women and the family, Ms Akinstall asked: "Where are the issues? What is being done? "They need to either disband the council or put it under the Women's Affairs Ministry.'' Ms Akinstall also pointed out that there was "very little'' and major gaps in information on women's issues in Bermuda's libraries.

"But then again,'' she said, "who really sees it as an important issue? "We don't do research on women's issues, collect data or have anything that you can sink your teeth into and get information.'' Had Bermuda "even'' sent a librarian to the conference, Ms Akinstall said, he or she would have been able to at least collect UN publications on women's issues.

"We are so advanced in terms of having our human rights, reproductive rights.

And compared to the Caribbean, third-world countries, and some groups in the US, we are better off educationally and financially,'' she said.

"But we need to reassess issues like maternity and paternity leave.'' Ms Akinstall stressed that in terms of human and family development, paid paternity leave and maternity leave needed to be addressed because it was just as important for fathers to bond with their children as it was for mothers.

Asked why she believed that issues pertaining to women in Bermuda were not being addressed, Ms Akinstall said: "I think women here are a little intimidated. They believe that if they raise such issues they will be thought of as men haters. So they are very careful not to step on male toes.

"We are quite content to wait and see as if someone is going to hand us something.

"We are content to have the truth embellished. Even though we don't believe it, we don't act.'' But both Ms Milligan-Whyte and Sen. Swan disputed Ms Akinstall's claims.

Ms Milligan-Whyte said the Women's Advisory Council's mere creation has raised awareness of women's issues.

"When I was chairman we did a thorough review and submitted it to the Premier,'' she said. "And during Kim Young's term they focused on violence against women.'' Numerous recommendations have come from the council, Ms Milligan-Whyte said.

Commenting on Ms Akinstall's claim about Bermuda's lack of progress on women's issues, she said: "I would certainly not agree with that.

"When you look at concrete statistics over the last four years, even though Bermuda has gone through a recession there has been economic growth in the international business sector and many of those persons benefiting from that have been women.'' This, Ms Milligan-Whyte added, was highlighted in the recent Economic Report.

"More and more women are appointed to boards since the formation of the council,'' she said, adding that the council has provided her with a list of women qualified to sit on Government boards and she has circulated the list to Ministers.

Sen. Swan, who stressed that she was Government's official representative at the conference, said she has never met Ms Akinstall and did not see her at the event although she saw the Akinstall Foundation stand.

"I was part of the UK delegation,'' she added. "I was the person who sat at the UK table in the plenary session because everybody had a job to do.'' Noting that Bermuda is not an independent country, Sen. Swan said the UK Minister in charge of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Baroness Chalker spoke on the Island's behalf.

But she pointed out that she had input into the British delegation meetings held each morning.

Head of the Women's Advisory Council Mrs. JoCarol Robinson could not be reached for comment.

The Hon. Yvette Swan