News
This page collects stories on developments throughout the Pacific in promoting women in politics. Because many news sites in the Pacific archive their stories after a period of time, we have replicated the stories in full on this page, to keep an archive on efforts and article in the region. We thank all Pacific news colleagues for their contributions in sharing stories on women in politics. If you have a story we have missed, please send it to the PacWIP team on pacwip@gmail.com.
Women supported to campaign in Tonga
24th September, 2017
The head of Tonga’s Civil Society Forum says getting more women into parliament is everyone’s responsibility and its time for more gender balance in Tongan politics. Siale ‘Ilolahia says the early election in November is an opportunity for Tongan women to come forward. There is just one woman MP in the current parliament – and...
Tonga’s snap election dampens women’s representation hopes
07th September, 2017
Last month’s dissolution of Tonga’s Parliament by royal decree has put plans for greater representation for women on the backburner. Elections are to be held on November 16, a year earlier than planned, dampening the hopes of Tonga’s women’s rights advocates. Like many Pacific countries Tongan women are struggling to have a voice in the...
Papua New Guinea PM wants to push for more women MPs
20th August, 2017
Papua New Guinea’s prime minister says he’s looking to revive a proposal to reserve 22 seats in the country’s parliament for women. No women were elected in recent elections, making Papua New Guinea one of the few countries with no female representation. According to the newspaper, The National, Peter O’Neill told a business breakfast in Port...
Big Men, No Women: Politics in Papua New Guinea
14th August, 2017
The recent election in Papua New Guinea (PNG) continued with a semblence of chaotic campaigns. With violence breaking out both during the electoral campaign and after the results had been confirmed, an attempted kidnapping of a candidate, problems with the electoral roll, an overly sensitiveElectoral Commissioner, and significant concerns over human rights abuses leading up to the polls. After the results were established, and Parliament...
PNG female election candidate relfects on challenges in recent elections
10th August, 2017
The United Nations Development Programme has joined the Registrar of Political Parties, the Chief Ombudsman and the highest polling female candidate in the national elections to call for political leaders, governments and voters to commit to real change to progress female participation in politics, after no women were elected to Parliament. For the first time in...
PNG women ‘priced out’ of parliament
10th August, 2017
A scholar of Pacific politics says women have been priced out of the election “game” in Papua New Guinea. No women have been elected to the new parliament despite a record 167 women going forward for election. All three women MPs in the previous 111-seat legislature lost their seat in last month’s polls. Kerryn Baker...
A group of women candidates prepares for Vanuatu’s election
09th August, 2017
It’s less than two months to Vanuatu’s general elections, and 18 women have shown their interest to stand as candidates. A group of women candidates prepares for Vanuatu’s election.They have been attending a workshop to prepare for the elections. Since independence in 1980, only five women have been elected as members of Vanuatu’s parliament. One...
Solomon Islands Minister for women sceptical of reserve seats
06th July, 2017
Solomon Islands’ minister for women, Freda Tuki Soriocomua, who is also the only woman in Solomon Islands’ 50 member parliament, says she does not believe having reserve seats for women is the best way to progress women’s leadership in the country. According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, as of last month, Solomon Islands had the sixth...
Welcome to Rigo, a PNG election story
30th June, 2017
On the eve of Papua New Guinea’s national election, a source of hope within the candidate field of one rural district may not be enough to bring real change. PNG begins polling next week after a typically exuberant campaign period. In the rural village belt of Central province’s Rigo Open, thirst for change is mixed...
Somare urges PNG to elect more women
21st June, 2017
Papua New Guinea’s veteran politician Sir Michael Somare has called on voters to support women candidates contesting this month’s national election. Speaking to local media, Sir Michael said there were many wonderful women contesting the five-yearly polls, and that the country needed more women in parliament. Among them is his daughter Dulciana Somare who is a...
PNG’s Tekwie calls for stronger backing for women in Parliament
08th June, 2017
Papua New Guinea’s Greens Party president and founder of PNG Women in Politics Dorothy Tekwie has called on voters in next month’s general election to support leaders who support women representation in Parliament. She said the Equality and Participation Act had already been passed in 2011 but not implemented in the 2012 — and now not...
Singh encourages women to participate in political sphere
05th June, 2017
Monday 05th June, 2017. Suva Fiji. By Kalesi Mele. National Federation Party vice-president, Priscilla Singh, is calling for more women participation in the political sphere. This comes after the party indicated an intention to have about 50 per cent of women candidates in the next election. Mrs Singh, who has been with NFP for 20...