The Fiji Women Lawyers Association says it is concerned with the type of reporting in the Fiji Sun front page yesterday about the former Minister for Women, senior legal practitioner and colleague Mereseini Vuniwaqa while FijiSun Publisher and CEO Peter Lomas says the Association is entitled to their view.
In a statement, the Association says today it maybe Vuniwaqa and tomorrow it could be you, your sister, colleague or friend.
The Fiji Women Lawyers Association says while they try and understand the rationale behind the reporting, the only thing that comes to mind is an attack against the integrity of a professional woman.
It says Vuniwaqa is a wife, a mother, someone’s daughter, cousin, aunt, relative, colleague, mentor and a role model to many women, girls, boys and men in Fiji and abroad.
The Fiji Women Lawyers Association says they plead with Fiji Sun and other newspaper providers, both paper and digital, to think about the consequences before they print.
The Association says it is no point celebrating International Women’s Day every year and talking about gender equality if they will attack women without a proper basis.
It says for every paper printed yesterday, the Fiji Sun has attacked the integrity of all women and girls in Fiji.
Fiji Sun Publisher and CEO Peter Lomas says the Fiji Women Lawyers Association and femLINKpacific are entitled to their view.
He says like most of those on social media making an issue of this report, they do not appear to have actually read the story they ran.
Lomas says their report, incidentally, was written and edited by highly qualified women journalists and a woman is in overall charge of the newsroom.
