News
Department of Works Celebrates International Women's Day
"Empowering Women as Leaders of Change & Driving Good Decision Making in the Department of Works."
The Department of Works celebrated the International Women's Day on Tuesday, March 8th, 2011. The day was commemorated by all the female staff of the Department along with some of their male counterparts.
The day's activities started off with a procession march by all the female staff, led by a police band, to the Human Resource Development (HRD) Conference room.
The next activities were speeches from invited guest which included, the DoW Secretary Mr. Joel Luma, the Assistant Secretary HRM Mr. Jimmy Ipata, the AusAid Minister Councilor Mrs. S. Copus-Cambel the Program Manager, TSSP, Mrs. Pam Griffit and the women's Representative Mrs. Francisca Bickson.
The occasion also marked the opening and launching of the new Dow policies, the Domestic Violence-Zero Tolerance Policy, the Workplace HIV & AIDS Policy and the Gender Equality Policy.
On receiving the policies, Mr. Luma said that Dow is taking an active role in addressing issues that affect women in the workplace and also in doing its part to ensure that the Dow reaches its goals stated in the DoW MTDS and PNG Vision 2050.
Many of the DoW female staff said that they thoroughly enjoyed the day and were grateful and appreciative of that the Department took the time and initiative to organize such an activity. It also showed that there rights and welfare were very much a concern to the Department and even though women were still regarded as inferior in many circles, it was good that the Department was taking a leading role in changing that perception and treating all employees, both male and female, equally.