The decline in political representation of women in the three national elections under the current electoral system is an embarrassment and cultural, social, economic and political barriers that continue to block women's political empowerment, making temporary special measures, not just beneficial, but absolutely necessary.
This has been highlighted in a joint submission by the Fiji Women's Rights Movement and Fiji Women's Crisis Centre to the Fiji Electoral Law Reform Commission at Bhawani Dayal Memorial Primary School last night as public consultation on the review of the three electoral laws continue.
They are calling for the reservation of 30 percent of seats in Parliament for women and a compulsory party quota, where political parties will be required by law, through the Constitution or through ordinary legislation, to nominate 50 percent of female candidates.
FWCC Manager Legal, Miliana Tarai says they hope to see tangible measures in place for financial and logistical support for women candidates so they are able to participate fully in their election campaign.
Tarai says they place urgency on the need for stronger laws that protect women from bullying, harassment and violence in the media and on the online platforms.
She says they are also calling for greater collaboration between political parties, the government, media companies and women's rights organizations to prevent and eliminate gender bias and media reporting on political issues.
Tarai says they are also calling for a constituency model that is truly representative of people in this country.
They also strongly recommend mandatory political, ethics and gender sensitization training, requiring all political candidates and office holders to undergo gender sensitization, ethics and governance training to reinforce the principles of inclusivity, democratic leadership and accountability.
FWRM Governance Board Chair Akanisi Nabalarua says despite having strong laws and policies on paper, the implementation falls short in different areas.
She says successive governments, including the current administration, have often paid lip service to gender equality while failing to make intentional and meaningful progress in women's representation, especially in decision making spaces.
The Board Chair says there is no clear strategy or dedicated pathway to increase women's participation in Parliament and public opinion reflects this failure where 81 percent of Fijians believe that women are underrepresented in government while 71 percent recognized that increased representation would benefit the nation, the persistent biases continue to hinder progress.
While quoting the 2024 Gender Assessment Report, Nabalarua says 75 percent of voters claim that gender does not influence their vote, but 40 percent still hold the belief that men make better political leaders and that women's primary responsibilities belong in the home.
She says this prejudice is reflected in the numbers where in 2014 women made up just 18 percent of the candidates, while this improved slightly to 24 percent, in 2018 we saw another decline.
Nabalarua says the backsliding of the trends demonstrates the need for targeted interventions to reverse it.
She stresses we need comprehensive mentorship programs to prepare women for leadership roles, dedicated funding mechanisms to support women candidates, platforms that actively encourage political engagement.
The Board Chair says we need gender quotas or incentives to ensure that political parties nominate more women candidates.
Nabalarua adds their submissions have been drafted jointly by FWRM and FWCC and has since been endorsed by a number of CSOs and NGOs like Empower Pacific Young Women's Christian Association, FemLink Pacific, Rainbow Pride Foundation, SEEP Fiji, with more endorsements to be collected on the final submissions that will be sent to the Commission in the coming weeks.
The public consultation today will be held from 10am to 2pm at the Namosi Provincial Council Hall and from 4pm to 6pm at Rampur College.
