Fiji

WITH more countries around the world voting in female prime ministers, Fiji's women are also being encouraged to add a female face to the words "Prime Minister".

Such a change will obviously be accompanied by numerous challenges, explained Minister for Women Dr Jiko Luveni, who said women were important agents of change.

"They have the ability to make effective leaders that serve the people as parliamentarians and should run for the elections next year," Dr Luveni said.

Last month Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama announced that the draft Constitution was ready. He had promised that the draft and any amendments would be handled by a Constituent Assembly, but then he announced it would be presented directly to the people of Fiij, saying they would be the Constituent Assembly and they had two weeks to provide feedback.

Ninteen young women graduated on Friday night from the Emerging Leaders Forum (ELF), a year-long training program run by the Fiji Womens Rights Movement.
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Fiji Teachers Union president Bal Ram said there were very few female union executives. Mr. Ram said he hoped more women candidates would contest executive positions in their national elections next year.
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Supervisor of Elections, Felicity Heffernan, says it's important for women to be part of the electoral process. Ms. Heffernan made the comment at a workshop on gender-based elections cycle at the Lagoon Resort in Pacific Harbour yesterday.
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Fiji women need to be encouraged to take active roles in politics. There were comments made by audience members at a public debate on whether temporary special measures are needed to get women into parliament. In Pacific island countries, there is an average of 94.7 percent male members in parliament compared with 5.3 percent for women.

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