The Great Council of Chiefs review report recommends that one out of the three seats per province is allocated for women with provisions to be made for observer status for ordinary citizens and youth representatives and non-voting seat to be allocated to Christian churches.
This is stated in the GCC Review Report 2023.
“The GCC should foster and encourage the ascension of women to leadership positions within all strata of the vanua. To achieve this, the GCC, provincial councils, Ministry of iTaukei Affairs, and individual communities must establish pathways for the inclusion of women in key leadership positions at all levels of Fijian society,” states the report.
The proposed membership of the GCC is 45, with three heads of confederacies and 45 nominees from provincial councils and Rotuma.
“The Bose Vanua should select the provincial representatives to the GCC through a fair, transparent and robust nomination and selection process.
“However, while the iTaukei Affairs (Great Council of Chiefs) Regulations 2023 does not explicitly reference gender concerning membership, the review team feels this established that both men and women may be members of the GCC.
“The inclusion of women and youth has been considered with relevant recommendations made on dedicated seats for women in the GCC and recognition of youths as observers.”
The review report states selection criteria be considered for members in the GCC can be:
- Have served in his/her province, district;
- Have had some level of formal education;
- For members – must be formally installed as liuliu ni yavusa, mataqali;
- Embodies iTaukei values and practices ethical leadership
