PM Questions Lack of Support for Women Candidates

Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka says, increasing women’s representation in political and decision-making positions remains a work in progress.

At the opening of the Pacific Technical Cooperation Session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in Suva yesterday, Mr Rabuka touched on the ongoing debate on women’s representation in Fijian politics.

He questioned why women political candidates did not have the support of women voters during elections.

“As the percentage of women in the population is approximately the same as for men, why are women not securing the votes of women?

“Or, more precisely, why aren’t women voting for women?”

He argued against what he labelled “tokenism”.

“Our aim is to elevate and uphold the dignity of women at the highest level of national governance,” he said.

“...putting in women for the sake of mere numbers, devalues that noble goal.”

Women’s rights and gender equality are the focus of the high-level CEDAW meeting, which the Fiji Government is hosting.

Mr Rabuka urged that the deliberations be meaningful for the Pacific.

“As you deliberate, it is important not to lose sight of the context of the Pacific that women and girls exist not in isolation,” he said.

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