International Women’s Day provides another opportunity to celebrate the economic, political and social contributions and achievements of women.
This has been highlighted by the Minister for Women Mereseini Vuniwaqa who invites all Fijians to join women all over the world in commemorating and celebrating International Women’s Day today with the theme “Be Bold for Change”.
Vuniwaqa says it is about committing to gender equality where women and girls are free from all forms of discrimination and ensuring a promising future that will provide women and girls the right environment to effectively participate in every aspect of socio-economic development and sustainable growth without any discrimination and where equality is cherished by all.
Vuniwaqa says women account for 49% of our total population and are the most vulnerable to poverty, domestic violence, abuse, and access to services.
She says violence against women and gender stereotyping are the biggest barriers to the effective participation of women in the social, economic and political sphere.
Vuniwaqa says addressing the needs of our women is a priority goal of the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development.
She says Fiji has come a long way in terms of laying a solid platform for gender equality in the form of our constitutional provisions for equality, non-discrimination and our Bill of Rights which now for the first time includes socio-economic rights.
Vuniwaqa says at the community level, women play a key role in supporting their households and communities to achieve viable food security, to generate income to complement and sustain their families, to improve their livelihoods and to participate equitably at all development processes, but the same women, who are resourceful, resilient and backbones of not only their households but of the nation as a whole are too often discriminated against based on gender stereotypes.
Vuniwaqa says the evident gender inequality has been the root cause of women being victims of the various forms of violence, yet too often there is silence on the matter from them and those around them.
The Minister says we should break the silence by providing women a space to hear their voice, a space to live life free from violence and a space to utilize their potential for the development of our nation.
She says in 2014 on the eve of International Women’s Day, the Bainimarama Government launched the first ever National Gender Policy, which further localizes this priority in ensuring that women’s issues and concerns are mainstreamed into government policies and programs.
