FEMLINK Pacific wants more women to participate in decision-making in any iTaukei society.
The organisation’s media advocacy officer Sian Rolls said it was important to have women included in decision-making.
“We want to see participation of women not only in meetings but also to have them in iTaukei decision making,” she said.
“It is about levelling the playing field. I mean if women are half the population, therefore they should also be half the leadership.”
Adi Merewalesi Levu, the rural convener for FemLINK on Vanua Levu, said they had seen men had accepted the fact women too could play an important role in leadership.
She said they had seen a change in attitude by men of Vanua Levu and it was a positive sign.
In the past two months, she visited 26 villages in the North, including Rabi, and provided training for men and women alike.
“I know it is hard to change the mind-set of men.
“But what I have done is I tell them that what we are trying is not to undermine men but to let you know that we women can also help in making decisions.
“What we teach is that it will never contradict our tradition nor our customs but bring back some of the lost customs that are never practised today and that is that women were also respected and valued in the past by our forefathers,” said Adi Merewalesi.
