PNG hosts Pacific delegates to discuss women’s political representation

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is preparing to host a three-day workshop to look at increasing the number of women in Pacific parliaments.

The Pacific Regional Conference on Strengthening Women’s Participation in Parliaments, to be held in Port Moresby from 23-25 November, will bring together representatives from 13 countries in the Pacific to discuss topics including barriers to women’s political participation, and the potential for Temporary Special Measures to raise the number of women in parliaments. The countries participating are PNG, Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Pacific Island legislatures have some of the world’s lowest numbers of women among their elected representatives. As of July 2015, women legislators across the Pacific accounted for just 5.4 per cent of all government members. Generally, women entering politics face local cultural obstacles and gender bias, including opposition from men in parliament. Although women are increasingly accepted in general decision-making roles across the Pacific, they are poorly represented in elected office.

In 2012, the Pacific Island Forum Leaders endorsed and committed to the Gender Equality Declaration 2012, which included measures such as temporary special measures – such as legislation to establish reserved seats for women and political party reforms – to accelerate women’s full and equal participation in governance reform at all levels and women’s leadership in all decision making.

The Conference will aim to provide information to participants on the following topics: 

o How could Temporary Special Measures (TSMs) increase women’s representation in parliaments? 

o Which countries have introduced legally binding TSMs and what are the different models used? 

o What was the process followed by case study countries that followed a process from agreeing that TSM were needed and then implementing them? 

The first two days of the Conference, 23 & 24 November, will be dedicated to the Pacific Regional Conference on Temporary Special Measures. It will provide an opportunity for delegates from the participating countries to share their experiences and discuss the potential for temporary special measures in their parliaments.

The third day of the Conference will cover the PNG Policy Dialogue on Temporary Special Measures, with the objective of agreeing on key approaches on women’s participation in leadership.

Editors and news directors, please note: journalists are invited to attend the discussion sessions on Monday 23 and Tuesday 24 October. The Wednesday session is closed.

For more information please contact Karen Hall, UNDP Communications at karen.hall@undp.org or 7068 2041 or Kave Pisi, Governance Team at kave.pisi@undp.org or 321 2877.