WOMEN have a right to equality in all areas of life and parliamentarians have a unique opportunity to ensure they gain access to this right.
This was the message from Parliament Speaker Dr Jiko Luveni to participants at the Inter Parliamentary Union Regional Seminar on Implementing Sustainable Development Goals with a human rights perspective in Nadi last week.
“Gender-responsive climate policies and legislation can play a transformative role, by challenging existing power imbalances — where women often have unequal access to social, economic and political resources and therefore have the least capacity to respond in the aftermath of climate change-related hazards and are also often excluded from political decision-making processes,” she said.
Dr Luveni added climate change policies were gender-aware and provided equitable opportunities and value to both genders and the onus was on parliamentarians to approach issues with gender sensitivity.
“Women have a right to equality in all areas. It must be embedded across legal systems, upheld in both laws and legal practices.
“Since all areas of life relate to gender equality, efforts must be made to cut the roots of gender discrimination wherever they appear. As parliamentarians and parliaments in the Pacific at this historic time, we are in a fortunate but challenging position of being able to make a difference.
“We are not bystanders to development. We are facilitators of development and we must step up to play a central role in this regard.”
