Ali questions why there were no women during the meeting between US Secretary of State and Fijian Govt

The Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre is asking why there were no women during the meeting between the Fijian Government and United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken over the weekend.

Similar sentiments have been shared by former Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation, Mereseini Rakuita.

Rakuita has posted on her Facebook page that she thinks we missed a once in a lifetime opportunity to show to a superpower the value and agency of women’s voices in national development and leadership.

FWCC Coordinator, Shamima Ali says both sides of the table were devoid of any women and if the picture of men staring at each other across the table is their idea of diplomacy, then we have obviously not learnt anything about the invaluable input of women’s participation in issues that affect our nation.

Ali says the table looked so bare without women despite the Fijian Government’s policy claims in promoting gender equality.

She says former Minister for Women Mereseini Rakuita was right that it was a missed opportunity for Fiji to have a woman speak at the high-level table.

Ali says during the meeting, Acting Prime Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum spoke at length about climate change and he did so without taking into account that climate change impacts women greatly.

She says had women been given a seat at the table, they would have been able to offer invaluable insights.

Ali adds they were conspicuous by their absence and we could have done better than this.

She says Sayed-Khaiyum missed a great opportunity to show that he genuinely cares about promoting gender equality and addressing violence against women and girls.

Ali is also calling on the Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation Rosy Akbar to provide an update on the Fiji Country Gender Assessment Report that was supposed to have been launched in December last year.

She says this would greatly help the FWCC see the gaps and plan strategies to promote gender equality and equity, two issues of great importance to our nation in promoting the human rights of women.

We have sent questions to the Acting Prime Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, Permanent Secretary for the Office of the Prime Minister Yogesh Karan and the Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation Rosy Akbar regarding the issues raised by Ali and are awaiting their response.

Fijivillage has also sent questions to the US Embassy who say they are looking into the matter.