Women’s votes key to representation, says Opposition MP

Opposition Member of Parliament Premila Kumar has challenged women voters to examine their role in the under-representation of women in Parliament.

She argued that greater political representation also depends on whether women support female candidates at the ballot box.

Ms Kumar questioned whether women voters were backing women seeking elected office, saying political representation would remain difficult to improve if female candidates did not receive support from women themselves.

“When we become voters, the real barrier is women not voting for women. I mean, ask yourself, all 58 of you seated here, in the last election, 55 women stood. Did you vote for a woman?” she asked during the Fiji Women’s Practice Parliament panel discussion on barriers to women’s participation in politics.

Ms Kumar also pointed to patriarchal attitudes within families, saying women’s political choices and confidence could be influenced by the expectations of husbands, fathers and brothers.

She argued that women needed to challenge these attitudes and have greater confidence in their ability to lead.

“Women get easily influenced by the men, whether it's the husband, whether it's the father, the brother. They will talk you into it, and say, you know, you vote for this one.”

Ms Kumar said women made up 50 per cent of Fiji’s population and Parliament should also reflect that.