WUNRN
PACIFIC ISLANDS WOMEN HAVE OWN UNIQUE LENS & STRATEGIES
FOR INCREASED POLITICAL PARTICIPATION & EMPOWERMENT
By Nicole George, Lecturer in Peace and
Conflict Studies at University
of Queensland - 12 September 2011
It was
refreshing recently to see Deputy Leader Julie Bishop draw national political attention
to the question of Pacific women’s political status.
But
her survey of the current problems facing women in the region also made for
frustrating reading.
Bishop,
whose comments came during the Pacific Islands Forum attended by Australian
Prime Minister Julia Gillard, emphasised women’s political invisibility and
posited the importance of Australian women leaders in creating supportive
networks that might assist their
Regretfully,
her analysis omitted the voices of Pacific women themselves, and any ideas they
may have about how to best progress the question of their political
representation.
Ms
Bishop also ignored a good deal of evidence that suggests that Pacific women
are already working effectively towards brighter futures.
My own
work researching the political achievements of women from the
First there is the question of formal political representation.
There
is no doubt that women in the region have generally struggled to find their
place in Pacific parliaments. Gendered divisions within many Pacific
communities often mean women are expected to uphold more passive, domestic
roles with Pacific men seen as agents of public and political transformation.
But
contrary to Ms Bishop’s assertion, quotas or other electoral mechanisms which
provide women with guaranteed access to parliamentary seats do play a role in
changing these community attitudes in the Pacific.
One
only has to look at the striking example of the Pacific’s Francophone
territories –
The
result has been a significant increase in women’s electoral representation
rising from 17% to 46% in the Congrès de Nouvelle Calédonie and 12% to 48% in
the Assemblée de Polynésie.
More
important even than this numerical rise in political representation is the
example these women politicians present for future generations of Pacific men
and women.
It has
been shown that women’s presence within these assemblies has led to a reshaping
of political practice more generally. Elected women bring a new seriousness to
the role of political representative and a new dedication to questions of
financial management and parliamentary committee work.
At the
same time increasing numbers of women, some attaining high political office,
also provide evidence of women’s political capacity and help reorient the view
of institutional politics as a male only domain.
It has
been frequently argued here in
But
such criticisms miss the broader point. Where parity provisions are in place
they allow Pacific women to prove their political credentials and legitimacy.
The
achievements of these women within the Parity system therefore need much
greater regional airplay because they discount the popular view that Pacific
Island women lack aptitude for, and interest in, public political life.
This
view is also contradicted if we examine the significant political contributions
Pacific women make outside the formal domain of institutional politics and within
civil society, another area of achievement relevant to Ms Bishop’s analysis.
From
this perspective it becomes much easier to see the important political work
Pacific women do as part of church organisations, labour organisations, women’s
advocacy groups, cultural groups and welfare associations.
For
example, networks of women’s advocates from across the Pacific have played a
crucial role in persuading Pacific governments to ratify the UN CEDAW
convention which aims to eliminate discrimination against women.
The
fact that so many Pacific Island countries have willingly ratified a convention
which places them under international scrutiny and obligates them to eliminate
gender discriminatory legislative provisions within family law, constitutional
law, or the criminal code, signals the increasing political clout of women’s
organisations and their ability to secure solid political progress for women.
Another
example can be found in reforms which have taken place within the region’s
intergovernmental institutions. At various points in the last 20 years, the
Secretariat of the Pacific Community and the Pacific Islands Forum have created
policy desks specifically focussed on the regional status of women and
questions of gender equity.
The
Pacific Islands Forum has prompted an important side event which will allow
Pacific women to address delegates on the Women Peace and Security agenda and
regional implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325.
While
civil society organisations across the region are, once again, lamenting the
poor access they have been given to the Forum’s deliberations, it has been a
different story for Pacific women.
Their
ability to stage this event and secure high level forum participation reflects
a history of sustained pressure put upon these regional bodies to democratise
their deliberations and recognize the concerns of women.
It is
often assumed that the work of women’s organisations in the Pacific has a
non-political flavour; that it is about frontline practical assistance for the disadvantaged.
This view is mistaken.
Women
working in these associations may not grab front page political headlines in
the ways that their male political counterparts frequently do.
They
may go about their business more quietly.
But
the roles they have played in transforming the political life of the Pacific
region deserve greater recognition than they currently merit.
They
have successfully prised open political space allowing for national debate on
issues such as family violence, gender equitable legal reform, women’s media
representation and wage equity. These are all noteworthy achievements.
Australian
women leaders may certainly have a supportive role to play in assisting the
leadership ambitions of Pacific women as Ms Bishop suggests but this needs to
be a consultative process.
The
first step? Understanding where and how Pacific women have, themselves, made
their political mark.