CWP NEWS AND REGIONAL STRENGTHENING
CWP Pacific Region meet for Regional Conference in Niue to discuss effective political participation for women
Guest speaker, Dr Karlo Mila, MNZM, is the programme director of the Mana Moana experience and is of Tongan, Samoan and Palagi descent, who shared her poetry focusing on Pacific culture, heritage and worldview, including her poem for the Commonwealth. Regional updates from each CWP Branch gave delegates the opportunity to share updates and progress on many issues including gender equality; women in leadership; international instruments, violence and prevention, economic empowerment, health, education, and decision-making. Delegates attended workshops on a wide range of topics and the Regional Conference also included a visit to Niue High School to promote understanding of democratic governance and increasing girls and women’s participation in leadership; and a meeting with Niue-based senior women officials, business and civil society leaders. The CWP Pacific Steering Committee members discussed the challenges of international engagement and called for a stronger commitment to ensuring gender-balanced delegations at CPA conferences. A key achievement of the Regional Conference was the establishment of a new CWP Pacific Region Facebook page.
Historic election in Kiribati as four women MPs voted into Parliament and first woman Speaker elected A recent election in Kiribati in the CWP Pacific Region has seen the election of four new women Parliamentarians – making history with the highest number of women in the Parliament of Kiribati to date. This was followed by the election of the first woman Speaker in Kiribati. Fourteen new MPs – including the four women MPs - were elected in Kiribati in the recent election which saw most of the Ministers in the current caretaker government keep their seats. The 44-seat Kiribati Parliament for 2020 will swear in all MPs for their first session in some months. One of the first acts of the new Kiribati Parliament was the election of the new Speaker. Members of Parliament voted in the
country’s first female Speaker of Parliament, former Opposition Member, Tangariki Reete. Ms Reete is a former Minister of Women, Youth and Social Affairs and had entered politics in 2008, in the footsteps of her father. In Kiribati, the Speaker of the House does not need to be a Member of Parliament. The Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) Pacific Region has been working to strengthen the networks for women seeking election in the Pacific Region which has some of the lowest levels of women’s representation in Parliaments.
For more images of CWP activities and events please visit www.cpahq.org/cpahq/flickr.
Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) from the Pacific Region met for their Regional Conference, from 24 to 28 February 2020 in Niue, to discuss gender equality and effective communication, with MPs attending from across the Region, led by CWP Pacific Regional Chair, Hon. Anahila Kanongata’a-Suisuiki, MP (New Zealand). As one of the smallest jurisdictions in the Commonwealth, it was felt that this would be a special opportunity to have many of the Pacific Region’s women leaders visit Niue and to network with local women leaders. Niue is self-governing in free association with New Zealand and has followed a Westminster-style Legislature with a 20-member Assembly. The Assembly currently has five women Members of Parliament and a strong women’s parliamentary caucus/CWP group, Matakau He Tau Ekepule Fifine Ha Niue with both current and former women MPs as well as women business, community and public-sector leaders who share the vision of gender equality. Delegates travelled from across the region – from the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Fiji, New Zealand, Nauru, Niue, Tonga, Tuvalu, Solomon Islands, Samoa - and were welcomed by the Speaker of the Niue Legislative Assembly Togiavalu Pihigia, showing his support for the importance of male champions in increasing women’s participation in politics. The CWP Pacific Chairperson spoke about the aims of the Region in furthering the strategic intentions of women; carrying out a review of women MPs’ communications and social media with some new tools for action; developing resolutions to take forward to the wider Parliamentary and interparliamentary community; continuing peer-to-peer and mentoring relationships between women in the Region; looking at ways of fostering new relationships with experts, women of influence and young women leaders; developing mitigation strategies for bullying, harassment, and sexism; and advocating for best practice and codes of conduct in Parliaments.
The Parliamentarian | 2020: Issue Two | 100 years of publishing 1920-2020 | 167
