Solomon Islands

A MOCK parliament for women will be conducted at the National Parliament from February 10 to 13.

Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat in close collaboration with the UNDP Pacific Centre, the  National Parliament of Solomon Islands and the Solomon Islands Government are organising the event.

This is part of moves to advance women’s participation in leadership and decision making.

Women in government or representation of women in Parliament are often quite hard for many to accept in this country, however since the national general election is just around the corner, it is the right time to give it a focus again.

All alone, it seems that Solomon Islands government remained unconvinced of the need for women's participation in Parliament. 

Representation of women in Parliament is not a new issue, but is significantly critical to the economic development and the political stability of this country as well as balancing of leadership.

Solomon Islands Parliamentarian Milner Tozaka says he supports the women’s desire to have 10 seats reserved for them in the National Parliament. And he urged the National Coalition for Rural Advancement Government led by Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo to proceed with its plan to introduce legislation to reserve the 10 seats.

We invite you to read the full article published January 21, 2014

A Solomon Islands politician says women in her country are fed up with not benefitting from any of the money that passes through the hands of her male counterparts.

Rhoda Sikilabu is a former deputy premier of Isabel province and now a provincial assembly member who is standing in next year’s general election.

She has just completed an exchange to Melbourne under the Pacific Women’s Parliamentary Partnerships scheme - something she says is proving vital in helping her to improve the lives of her constituents.