Fiji unlikely to have woman Prime Minister soon, says Opposition MP

Opposition MP Premila Kumar believes Fiji is unlikely to have a woman prime minister in the near future, saying women continue to face barriers to reaching the highest levels of political leadership.

Ms Kumar said the barriers extended beyond the country’s top political office to the allocation of influential parliamentary portfolios, with women often associated with social services while men dominated key areas of national decision-making.

She argued that women should be given opportunities to lead based on their qualifications and capabilities rather than being directed towards roles traditionally associated with women.

Ms Kumar pointed to her experience as a former minister for trade under the FijiFirst government as an example of a woman capable of leading an important economic portfolio.

“If you think that a woman can become a prime minister, it is not going to come that soon,” she said.

“Going back to the portfolios that are given to women, why we don’t have a deputy prime minister, let’s start from here, forget about being Prime Minister, that could have happened but it did not so this is gatekeeping, boys club.”

She also questioned why women remained under-represented in areas such as finance, defence, policing and trade, arguing that these portfolios carried significant influence over the country’s direction.

“When it comes to portfolio decisions, women are generally given soft issues, more of a social security level issues and not national security so they are given education, women, health so that’s gatekeeping where you keep those portfolios for male colleagues and ignore women even though they come with right qualification.”

Deputy Speaker of Parliament Lenora Qereqeretabua urged women to choose political parties that supported women in leadership.

“The party is what helps you do that. According to our constitution, you cannot be the prime minister of Fiji until you're the party leader of the party that wins,” she said during a panel discussion at the Fiji Women’s Practice Parliament."

Ms Qereqeretabua said this was the reality of politics in Fiji.