Youth Parliament to be held this year to build leaders - Kiran

Youth Parliament will be held this year which aims to build confidence of upcoming leaders, especially women.

Minister for Women, Sashi Kiran confirmed this during the CEDAW panel discussion on Women's Political Participation this morning at the University of the South Pacific.

Kiran says the dates for this will be announced by the Speaker later.

The last Youth Parliament was held in 2002.

Kiran says to get the required exposure, it's important for youths to participate in school election.

She says most of the women from the previous Mock Parliament are interested in the Local Government Election and hopefully the review of the electoral laws will encourage more women in politics.

The Minister says sometimes, we focus a lot on the imperfections of the other women rather than guiding them through mentorship programmes.

She says the Women's Leadership Programme has also been launched to encourage women into leadership.

When asked how traditional leadership structures and culture can encourage or transform women's participation in politics, Kiran says there has been a very welcoming progress of the Great Council of Chiefs, where each province can nominate three women to the GCC.

She says there is awareness and recognition in the traditional spaces and there is a need for more women in these spaces.

The Minister says they wanted to understand the reason behind this and they discovered two barriers.

She says in many rural settings women were told who to vote for and there is a lack of understanding on what the Parliament is and how people are represented and what it means for them in their daily lives.

She says awareness and education is crucial therefore they are working on programmes at the grassroots, local and national levels.

Kiran further says they are working with the Fiji Institute of Chartered Accountants which has a wonderful women empowerment programs, however, 40 percent of the members are women but only two women are voted on the Council.

She says at professional organizations and community board levels, women numbers need to go up in leadership and then it can be reflected in national leadership.

She says it's very important for us to work and try and get women to believe in women in those spaces.

The Minister adds that the media also plays an important role by how they portray women in leadership.