There is a need to increase women representation in senior leadership roles, says KPMG partner in-charge business services, senior accountant and Fiji-New Zealand Business Council president Renu Chand.
Speaking in the National Economic Summit during the plenary session on “Responsible, Responsive and Resilient Leadership” on Thursday, she expressed concern on the low number of women in leadership roles.
“If we look at the 19 companies on the South Pacific Stock Exchange, the 2022 audited financial statements showed 103 board members of which women representation is 25,” Ms Chand said.
“If we look at women in Parliament, and currently in Government, we have four female ministers and assistant ministers.
“In our public service, we have 20 per cent women that make up the civil arm permanent secretaries.”
She also said improving economic security for women must be a priority.
“The second point I wanted to talk on was improving economic security for women.
“Increasingly, a large number of women are now becoming entrepreneurs.
“So the question we’ve got to ask is how can we support these women business owners in actually improving economic security?
“When we talk about economic security, we talk about reducing the gender pay gap, we talk about gender parity, we talk about safe environments, respectable workplaces, and they are actually giving flexibility for parents, not just women and carers.”
Ms Chand said women’s health and wellbeing also needed to be improved.
“That is critical and we need to make services more accessible to rural women.
“It’s great to see that the current Government is continuing with this PPP program, a private public partnership program with general practitioners to set up in remote and rural areas and by doing this, you are bringing services closer to women and their families.”
She said under the PPP program there were four dental clinics, seven medical labs, and 44 general practitioners in remote and rural areas.
