WUNRN
PAPUA NEW GUINEA - WOMEN FIGHT FOR
POLITICAL REPRESENTATION
AAP
- 23 Feb 2012
Women's
groups in Papua New Guinea have pledged to fight on and contest the June 2012
elections, after the government of Peter O'Neill failed for the third time to
pass a law giving women 22 seats in the nation's male-dominated parliament.
The
bill failed to pass parliament 58-1 on Wednesday after 21 MPs opposed to the
historic laws solidifying last year's constitutional amendment guaranteeing the
seats.
A
failed third attempt to pass the bill means it has to be reintroduced to
parliament, and with campaigning for the June 2012 soon to begin, women may not
have a strong voice in parliament until the 2017 election.
But
advocates of the women's bill say they will contest electorates despite the
absence of the enabling laws.
"We
have waited 36 years. Are we going to wait another five? We need to mobilise
and we need to take the coming election on as our challenge," said Dorothy
Tekwie, founder of the PNG Women in Politics.
"Absence
of women has been part of the problem of why this country has been going down
the drain and sold to the dogs, where no-one cares about our children, about
the social services, about human rights issues, environmental destructions.
"These
issues are pertinent to women and we are asking the people of Papua New guinea
to make that come through in whatever seats women stand for."
There
is currently no law against women running for parliament in PNG - evidenced by
the nation's current sole female member, Australian-born opposition leader Dame
Carol Kidu.
However
since colonisation and nationhood, PNG has become a fiercely patriarchal
society and women face enormous social barriers to getting elected.
The
nation's health sector is dysfunctional, with aid from Australia keeping much
of the health sector afloat. There are currently only 152 trained midwives in
PNG, according to Ausaid, and nearly seven per cent of children do not live
past their fifth birthday.
"We're
not asking to take away space from anybody. We are asking to provide extra
space in a playing field that is completely uneven, completely uneven,"
said Dame Carol, a 15-year veteran of parliament.
"It
is not a western, foreign agenda being brought here.
"I
can tell you the most influential person of the Kidu household of the Vahoi
clan of the Tari village was my late mother-in-law. Let us not pretend women do
not have a voice in Papua New Guinea. Women do have a voice here."
Prime
Minister Peter O'Neill declined to comment when questioned by AAP, but told
journalists on Wednesday he was disappointed with the members who left the
chamber.
"If
they didn't like the bill, they should have just remained in the chamber and
voted against it," the Port Moresby based Post Courier quoted him as
saying.
"They
should have made it clear where they stand, instead of walking out. We cannot
continue to deceive our womenfolk if the numbers are just not going to be there
to support it."
The
80 MPs present in the chamber on Wednesday passed three laws, including one to
allow the setting up of a sovereign wealth fund and another to set up a
10-person committee to oversee preparations for the 2015 Pacific Games to be
held in PNG.