Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection, Sashi Kiran has stressed that in Fiji, a Member of Parliament will go down in history asking for a Ministry for Men.
This comes after Opposition MP Rinesh Sharma called on the government to establish a dedicated Ministry for Men.
Kiran says Sharma may not have listened or did not understand her statement, which was an update on what the government is doing to prevent violence against women and girls.
She says that such flippant remarks are part of the problem.
The Minister highlighted yesterday that nine lives were lost, four of them men, including two who killed themselves after killing their partners and two others who were victims of intimate partner violence.
She says violence leaves a deep traumatic impact on all members of a family, especially children, and the primary focus on violence against women is because it is a pervasive gendered crime rooted in patriarchy and structural inequalities, leading to higher rates of severe harm and death for women.
Kiran further says that while violence can affect anyone, the emphasis on women is due to the disproportionate rate of severe victimisation, with men being the dominant perpetrators in these cases.
The Minister adds that if the parliamentary leader is unaware of these facts, she wonders what he is sharing with his communities.
Kiran has invited Sharma to visit the ministry to learn about their services and what they offer, since he apparently did not hear anything about what the government is actually doing.
The Minister emphasised that they do work with men and, if he listens carefully, also look after juveniles.
She says that this issue is too grave to be used for cheap point scoring.
