Go to where the women are if you want to hear from them, says the Pacific Community’s Principal Strategic Lead – Pacific Women Mereseini Rakuita.
Officiating alongside Australia’s elect to the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) Committee at a press club event for women in the media yesterday, Ms Rakuita was asked what could be done to better engage women and improve their participation in the Electoral Law Review consultations.
“If the women are not coming to consultations, we’ve got to ask why and go to where they are,” she said.
“By Fijian experience, when I was a politician, when government introduced a small grant scheme from a certain ministry that was available for anybody in Fiji to assist post COVID, we looked at the data from a gender perspective.
“We saw 50 per cent women 50 per cent men getting the grants but the women were not accessing the whole package of assistance which is, for example, training on financial literacy, and setting up small businesses.
“We asked why, and we looked at the venues for these trainings — they’re taking place in towns and cities.”
Ms Rakuita said women were usually occupied with taking care of their children and communities. How can she get her voice heard? It’s simply logistics.
“If you want to hear the voices of women, you got to find where they are. And putting a schedule that’s flexible enough to enable them to attend this, particularly when we talk about Fijian communities, rural women, women in maritime, and those with disabilities.
“If you want to hear a cross-section of views, that program has to be flexible enough to accommodate them as well,” she said.
