Name change policy is not gender sensitive and needs to be removed - Ali

The current Electoral (Registration of Voters) Act is not gender sensitive and needs to be repealed as soon as possible.

This has been stated by Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre Coordinator Shamima Ali while speaking during the consultation to review the name change policy.

She says this law is discriminating against women and some were even beaten up by their partners because they decided to change their documents.

Ali says it is ridiculous for women to change their names on their birth certificates, especially for those that had to remove their family name and install their spouse’s surname.

She adds this new law was a political move by one person’s brain and since it was near the general elections last year, it was a part of the voters’ oppression not to allow women to vote.

Ali says it affected the people mostly in the maritime and rural areas.

She also says the policy impacted the women’s history, identity and everything that people know about them.

Ali says there should be an advisory committee of feminist women to ensure that there are further laws are to be gender-sensitised and women’s perspectives to also be taken into consideration.