Online abuse keeping women out of politics, says Minister for Women
Sashi Kiran says fear of scrutiny, attacks and abuse against families is discouraging potential women candidates
Tuesday 22 September 2026 | 18:30
Minister for Women Sashi Kiran with participants during the Women’s Political Participation: Confronting Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence Workshop in Suva on September 22, 2026.
Photo: Ronald Kumar
Fear of online abuse against themselves and their families is stopping some women from entering politics, says Minister for Women Sashi Kiran.
Ms Kiran said some women who had shown interest in contesting the next election were still asking themselves whether they could withstand scrutiny and online attacks.
She made the comments today while opening a workshop on women’s political participation and technology-facilitated gender-based violence.
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“Not that they doubt the capability, but the fear of scrutiny and fear of online abuse on their families is holding many women, very good women, back,” she said.
Ms Kiran said women should not have to learn to withstand abuse simply to enter public life.
She said women made up half of Fiji’s population but held only five of the 55 seats in Parliament.
Ms Kiran said a 2025 study showed 75 per cent of Fijians were willing to vote for women candidates, while 80 per cent of young women supported women candidates.
She said the figures showed the lack of women in politics was not simply about public support, but the barriers women faced when entering and remaining in political life.
Ms Kiran said women in Pacific politics faced intimidation, character attacks, sexualised rumours, sexist abuse, disinformation and threats to their families.
She said political disagreement was part of democracy, but threats, sexualised abuse and targeted harassment were not.
Permanent Secretary for Women, Children and Social Protection Selina Kuruleca said online spaces that should allow women to engage with voters were increasingly becoming places of abuse and intimidation.
She described the issue as a digital crisis threatening democracy.
Ms Kuruleca said Fiji’s National Development Plan 2025-2029 targets an increase in women’s parliamentary representation from 10 per cent to 30 per cent.
“We cannot build a prosperous, democratic Fiji while half of our population is digitally terrorized into silence,” she said.
However, Ms Kiran said the ministry was supporting a technology-based initiative designed to help women candidates deal with online abuse, including filtering toxic content, blocking bots and recording evidence of coordinated attacks and threats.
