In an effort to encourage young women to vote in the upcoming general elections, the Fiji Young Women's Forum has launched a “My Guide to Voting” booklet.
This booklet contains information on voting and political participation of young women in Fiji's election process.
Program Associate Media for femLINKpacific and co-convenor with the Fiji Young Women's Forum, Vilimaina Tamata says out of the 234 candidates who contested the 2018 general elections, 56 were women which is 24%.
Tamata adds that in 2014, 44 women went into politics which is a 6% increase in the representation of Fijian women taking ownership of political leadership and breaking gender stereotypes.
Meanwhile, the Pacific region has the lowest percentage of women in parliament globally at 4%. This figure is lower than the global average of 16% and is also lower than the percentage of female parliamentarians in Arab states which stand at 7%.
