Only 8% Women leaders in foreign affairs

Only eight per cent of leadership positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were held by women during the 2019-2021 reporting period.

This was highlighted in Parliament on yesterday by the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence.

The committee heard that despite both genders being represented in the ministry, women remained significantly underrepresented in senior roles.

Manager Policy Division Sherleen Lal revealed the gender disparity during a submission on the ministry's annual reports for 2019-2020 and 2020-2021.

"In terms of gender analysis for the ministry in terms of women in leadership, there were eight per cent of women that were in leadership at that point in time," Ms Lal said.

The report showed male officers continued to outnumber female officers in both reporting periods, particularly in core roles such as foreign service officers, protocol and diplomatic positions.

The Coalition government came under heavy criticism last year over ambassadorial appointments, with the Great Council of Chiefs and Fiji Women’s Rights Movement raising concerns about the lack of female representation.

Women had applied for ambassador positions – including one for Israel, six for Indonesia, four for Wellington and one for Geneva – but did not reach the shortlisting stage.

Government has made about 10 ambassadorial and high commissioner appointments, all of them men.

The committee also heard that women made up a larger proportion of support staff in areas like executive support, information technology, finance and human resources.

The ministry currently has 14 Fijian women serving in overseas missions with more than 10 based at headquarters, according to recent data.

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