Why special measures to boost Fijian women's political representation remain a distant goal
Source: RNZ
Despite calls from women's groups urging the government to implement policies to address the underrepresentation of women in politics, the introduction of temporary special measures (TSM) to increase women's political representation in Fiji is remains a distant goal.
This week, leader of the Social Democratic Liberal Party (Sodelpa), Cabinet Minister Aseri Radrodro, and opposition MP Ketal Lal expressed their opposition bjection to reserving 30 percent of parliamentary seats for women.
Radrodro, who is also the Education Minister, told The Fiji Times that Fijian women "are capable of holding their ground without needing a crutch like TSM to give them a leg up".
Lal called the special allocation of seats for women in parliament "tokenistic" and beneficial to "a few selected individuals", as part of submissions to the Fiji Law Reform Commission and the Electoral Commission of Fiji, which is undertaking a comprehensive review and reform of the Fiji's electoral framework.
Their sentiment is shared by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, who said at a Pacific Technical Cooperation Session of the Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in Suva earlier this month, that "putting in women for the sake of mere numbers" is "tokenistic".
Read here the full article published by RNZ on 22 April 2025.
Image by RNZ
Despite calls from women's groups urging the government to implement policies to address the underrepresentation of women in politics, the introduction of temporary special measures (TSM) to increase women's political representation in Fiji is remains a distant goal.
This week, leader of the Social Democratic Liberal Party (Sodelpa), Cabinet Minister Aseri Radrodro, and opposition MP Ketal Lal expressed their opposition bjection to reserving 30 percent of parliamentary seats for women.
Radrodro, who is also the Education Minister, told The Fiji Times that Fijian women "are capable of holding their ground without needing a crutch like TSM to give them a leg up".
Lal called the special allocation of seats for women in parliament "tokenistic" and beneficial to "a few selected individuals", as part of submissions to the Fiji Law Reform Commission and the Electoral Commission of Fiji, which is undertaking a comprehensive review and reform of the Fiji's electoral framework.
Their sentiment is shared by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, who said at a Pacific Technical Cooperation Session of the Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in Suva earlier this month, that "putting in women for the sake of mere numbers" is "tokenistic".
Read here the full article published by RNZ on 22 April 2025.
Image by RNZ