By Cindy Trinh
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania
THE PACIFIC – A representative from the United Nations Development Programme, Knut Ostby, says that a more-open-minded approach to electoral systems will help Pacific countries get more women into parliament.
Women members average only 3.5% across the Pacific region. Four countries have no women politicians at all.
Compared with the global average of women parliamentarians, which is 18.5%, this small number of women politicians in the Pacific region shows the underrepresentation of women in the governments of the Pacific countries.
According to the UNDP, countries of the Pacific region have the lowest levels of women’s representation in parliaments. The Inter-Parliamentary Union has reported that Pacific women’s contribution as citizens and leaders is significant but it has generally remained informal and is not sufficiently recognized in mainstream political processes and power sharing with men, especially in national decision-making institutions.
While electoral systems such as New Zealand’s MMP system, which gave women the right to vote and has resulted in two female Prime Ministers, has proven to be successful in representing women in the Pacific region, other parts of the Pacific have much more difficulty introducing measures. These countries, for example the Solomon Islands, have institutional, financial, cultural, and development barriers which cause these Pacific parliaments to remain notoriously underrepresented by women.
On March 2, 2010, these issues were raised in a Pacific panel event at the UN Commission of the Status of Women.
At the panel, Minister Fiame Mata’afa for the Community and Social Development, stated that: “There are quite a few things that the Pacific is famous for, but one thing that we are infamous for, is being the least represented by women in the world.” She further suggested that while there are several reasons for the low numbers, campaigns dating back to the 70s and 80s have worked to further the gaps.
Mata’afa reasoned that “there might be a correlation between the level of development of a country and the rate of representation by women.”
Minister Patsy Wong for Women’s Affairs and Ethnic Affairs pointed out Samoa as being one of the Pacific countries that is severely underrepresented by women.
Wong is focusing on strengthening women’s representation and leadership not only in the public sector, but also in the corporate sector, as well as addressing the pay gap between men and women. She also supports women in the work force and creating a career path for women to promote the range of employment choices for girls. She continues to advocate for and inspire greater equality in decision making in the Pacific region.
Ostby of the UNDP says that when it comes to increasing women’s political representation, extra funding is only one consideration.
Ostby further stated: “Advocacy is important, and [so is] the willingness to look at existing electoral systems. For example, when you have constituencies with single representatives, that creates [a] situation for the voters…if you have several candidates coming out of a constituency perhaps there’s a bigger chance to have more diversity on this gender issue as well as on other issues.”
For more information, please see:
United Nations Development Programme: Pacific Centre – Promoting Women in Pacific Legislatures
Radio New Zealand International – Willingness to change electoral systems needed to get more women MPs – 25 March 2010
Pacific Gender Action Portal – Big Apple Bytes: Pacific women in politics panel stirs interest – 03 March 2010
