WUNRN
4th Fiji Consultation on Women’s Participation and
Equal Representation in Parliament:
Fiji Women Call for Democracy, Human Rights, Social
Justice and Gender Equality*
April 8th -10th, 2013
1.The 4th Fiji Women’s Forum is deeply concerned with the disproportionate
representation of women in parliament. Women make up 50% of Fiji’s population
and are leaders in every aspect of our society and yet, since independence, the
percentage of women in parliament has never reflected this reality.
2.On the 8th-10th April 2013, one year after the inaugural Fiji Women’s Forum,
fifty-three women leaders representative of diverse constituencies from across
Fiji and upholding the qualities of women’s leadership, gathered for the fourth
time, and were joined by 440 virtual viewers via live-streaming over the
internet. The Fiji Women's Forum was also featured in a special community radio
broadcast.
3.The women of the 4th Fiji Women’s Forum gathered to create awareness on
women’s political participation in national democratization processes, identify
feasible, realistic and strategic approaches to increase women’s participation
in all electoral processes and develop a collaborative approach amongst women
sharing skills, resources and building greater solidarity.
4.The 4th Fiji Women’s Forum acknowledges and builds on the Forum’s substantive
contributions to Fiji’s democratization processes to date, which have included
the mobilization and delivery of over 125 rights-based civic education
campaigns and programmes, the production of democratic advocacy materials and
the facilitation of over 650 individual and group submissions that contributed
to over 7000 submissions received by the 2012 Constitutional Commission.
5.In light of these efforts and successes, the Fiji Women’s Forum is deeply
disappointed that the women’s values and priorities which were reflected in our
submissions to the People’s Draft Constitution, 2012, was rejected resulting in
the invisibility of women in the current Government Draft, 2013. This
contravenes the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination
Against Women (CEDAW), which Fiji ratified in 1995.
6.The Fiji Women’s Forum further condemns the State’s decision to abandon the
Constituent Assembly. The Women’s Forum had concerns on legitimacy of the
overall process but recognized the importance of including women’s perspectives
in a participatory, open, transparent and substantive debate on constitutional
content.
7.The Forum heard from past Fijian women parliamentarians and election
candidates who shared their experiences and expertise. In light of these
interactions, the Forum encourages aspiring women politicians to choose their
political parties carefully by investigating party constitutions and
manifestos, ensuring that both have women’s rights and gender equality at their
core. The Forum further asserts that transformative change is not just about
the policies of parties but also party structures that are inclusive and human
rights based.
8.The Women’s Forum acknowledges EMILY’s List Australia, that has contributed
information on their expertise in fundraising for women candidates. The Forum
consequently emphasizes the importance of funding for women’s participation in
politics and therefore urges political parties to allocate sufficient funds to
their female candidates and calls for the wider public to donate generously to
their campaigns.
9.The Forum calls on the State to develop laws on the electoral process in
consultation with the people of Fiji and to include the stipulation of a zipped
closed list system (female and male candidates listed in alternating order) for
political parties. This is critical to address the history of inequality and to
ensure equitable numbers of women in local and national parliament, as part of
Temporary Special Measures.
10. The
Women’s Forum will develop women in politics training programmes in the lead up
to the upcoming Fiji elections and will support women politicians throughout
the entire electoral cycle. We strongly endorse the mentoring of younger women
and those new to politics. We therefore acknowledge International Knowledge
Network of Women in Politics, for sharing their experiences around building the
capacity of women in politics in Indonesia.
11. The
Forum asserts the immediate need for voter and civic education and the need to
utilize alternative media, including community radio, in building public
awareness around active citizenship.
12. The
4th Fiji Women’s Forum offers our strategies to all stakeholders to ensure that
more women are elected into parliament in the upcoming elections.
13. We
commit to work together in solidarity towards gender equality, participatory
democracy and the meaningful participation of women in local and national
decision-making.
Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls, Executive Director: FemLINKPacific www.femlinkpacific.org.fj, sharon@femlinkpacific.org.fj, M +6799244871
*The co-convenors of the Fiji Women's Forum are the National Council of Women
Fiji, Soqosoqo Vakamarama I Taukei, FemLINKPacific and the Fiji Women's Rights
Movement.
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