FOURTEEN non-government organisations (NGOs) and civil society organisations (CSOs) have made a bold submission to the Electoral Law Reform Commission, asking for 30 per cent reserved seats for women in Parliament and calling for a compulsory party quota where political parties would be required by law to nominate a minimum percentage of female candidates.
The submission has been made by Fiji Women’s Rights Movement (FWRM), Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (FWCC), Empower Pacific, Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), Femlink Pacific, Strumphet Alliance, Rainbow Pride Foundation (RPF), Social Empowerment Education Program (SEEP Fiji), Building Innate Resilience Through Hearts (BIRTH Fiji), Fiji Women’s Lawyers Association (FWLA), Habitat for Humanity Fiji (HfH), Women Entrepreneurs Business Council of the Fiji Commerce & Employers Federation (WEBC), Trans Affirmative Action Guild (TAAG) and Emerging Leaders Forum Alumni (ELFA).
In their submission, the group are calling for temporary special measures (TSMs) to be brought into law. They state the situation of Fiji women as a group compared to that of Fiji men, is of significant historical disadvantage, adding women are latecomers to the political arena, and to being able to participate in modern public and political life.
It is difficult to compete with men when there is no pre-existing level playing field, and therefore no fair competition.
Why do we need more women in the legislature?
The submission states women running for elections face overwhelming and significant challenges all over the world, most especially in developing countries like Fiji, including addressing discrimination or cultural beliefs that limit women’s role in society, confining them to the home and domestic sphere, balancing private, family and political life, gaining support from their own communities and political parties and securing campaign funding.
“Women represent half the population and in a truly representative democracy catering to the needs of all Fiji citizens, should therefore naturally constitute at least half the members of the national legislature. Women’s political participation is critical for a balanced, fair, representative, inclusive and well-functioning democracy. Their inclusion is not only a matter of justice, but is critical in creating more effective policies, better responsive legislation and governance,” states the submission.
The NGOs and CSOs submit there are well documented research showing that a higher proportion of women in elected office is correlated with lower levels of corruption. They cite a World Bank report that found women are less corrupt than men, female managers bribe less, and countries with a higher percentage of women in government and within the staff of their local companies have lower corruption levels.
“It therefore makes sense that we want to see more women leaders in Parliament who will understand, emphasize, relate and prioritise our needs, lived realities and aspirations. Increasing women’s representation in the national legislature, and therefore leadership, is not only an aspiration but is central to building a strong, more progressive and inclusive democracy,” states the submission.
Women’s status in the national legislature
The submission also points out the trend of women candidates in general elections. In 2014, women constituted 18 per cent of candidates, which slightly increased to 24 per cent in 2018, but saw a decline in subsequent elections.
“It is a matter of national shame, and unacceptable that after three national elections under new electoral laws, there has been a drastic decline in women’s representation from contesting national elections to being elected to Parliament. It is clear from our history that cultural, social, economic and political factors stand in the way of women’s political empowerment,” states the submission.
The submission adds aligning to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) commitments to removing structural barriers for women requires temporary special measures (TSM) or affirmative action laws.
They state TSMs to increase the numbers of women in the legislature can be an effective short-term measure to rapidly increase women’s representation.
“The success of similar TSMs in other Pacific nations, underscores their potential effectiveness in achieving gender parity in political offices, making it crucial for Fiji to adopt similar measures to ensure women’s active participation in governance. Affirmative action measures or TSMs such as gender quotas, financial support for women candidates, and public education on the importance of women in political roles can help reverse this trend and empower women to run for office.”
Reserved seats for women in the legislature
The submission asks for 30 per cent reserved seats for women, either through additional national dedicated constituencies or by implementing a quota system within the existing electoral framework.
“We prefer additional seats. This would ensure guaranteed female representation, protecting women from being marginalised in a predominantly male political landscape. This approach would require a certain number or percentage of seats within the legislature to be set aside for women,” states the submission.
They add even where a specific number of seats are reserved for women, a long-term strategy would ensure that continuous civic education be undertaken with voters, to promote their awareness of the value of women’s political participation.
Women candidates should also be supported to run as candidates in both open and reserved seats, to ensure that in the long-term, women are eventually elected in relatively equal numbers into reserved seats, the submission states.
Overall recommendations
The 14 NGOs and CSOs have made the following recommendations to the Commission:
q Call for 30 per cent reserved seats for women in parliament preferably through extra seats;
q Call for a compulsory party quota where political parties would be required by law (through the constitution or through ordinary legislation) to nominate a minimum percentage of female candidates;
q Tangible measures in place for financial and logistic support for women candidates so that they are able to participate fully in their election campaign;
q Call for efforts to strengthen civic education and awareness programs on voter rights, women’s leadership and societal norms that hinder this;
q Place urgency on the need for stronger laws that protect women from bullying, harassment and violence in the media and online platforms;
q Call for greater collaboration between political parties, the government and media companies and women’s rights’ organisations, to prevent and eliminate gender bias in media reporting on political issues;
q Call for a constituency model that is truly representative of people in this country; and
q Recommend mandatory political ethics and gender sensitisation training, requiring all political candidates and office holders to undergo gender sensitisation, ethics and governance training to reinforce the principles of inclusivity, democratic leadership and accountability.
