The canton of Zurich has named a new head of “masculine issues” after the former head of the department, the first of its kind in Switzerland, quit in July just a month after being appointed.

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Edgar Frey, 47, a trained teacher and human resources expert, will take over the job in March 2013, the canton’s department of justice announced.

Frey succeeds Markus Theinert who resigned after being told he would have to give up his position as chairman of the men’s organization Männer.ch, which he refused to do.
 
Frey is currently head of personnel for the Swiss branch of a multinational company.

Married and the father of two adult children, he is specialized in issues relating to men, fathers and boys, the canton said.

Zurich’s office of gender equality was last spring the first in the country to name an official responsible solely for male issues.

The government has decided to change the title of the position from “men’s officer” to “project officer” in charge of a service for boys, fathers and men in Zurich.

The previous title took on a connotation “we didn’t like,” Helen Trachsel, director of Zurich’s institute for the equality of women and men told Tages Anzeiger recently.

The office of equality in the canton of Basel-City has employed a specialist in men’s issues who also looks at women’s issues.