PAPUA NEW GUINEA – A group of female candidates in this year’s Papua New Guinea general election are relishing a chance to better understand the rules of engagement in parliamentary politics.

Fifty delegates were selected for a week-long programme, under way in Port Moresby, training PNG female election candidates in parliamentary proceedings.

The programme is supported by the United Nations Development Programme, which says that with only three female MPs out of 111 in PNG’s current parliament, women are vastly under-represented as elected officials.

One of the delegates in the programme, Dulciana Somare-Brash said it was important to learn the traditions that needed to be maintained in order for parliamentary democracy to survive.

She admitted it was difficult to totally prepare a newcomer to parliament for PNG’s male-dominated political scene, but said the training offered promise and pointed people in the right direction.

“The enthusiasm in the room suggests that people are going to go and research. They know where to look now, and I think that’s a really good start,” Somare-Brash said.

“So you know, with technology the way it is, and people having access to it, I’m hoping that people are going to do their homework, and we’re all going to understand the rules of engagement a little bit better.”

The 50 delegates at the training programme are under little illusion that being elected to the PNG parliament is anything but an enormous challenge.

Women contesting PNG elections are distinctly disadvantaged through customary expectations and the fact that they tend not to have the same access to resources as male leaders.

“The elections will be flushed with cash, so there’s a disparity already, going in. People with access to resources – it’s not all even,” Somare-Brash said.

But she said there was a big shift in sentiment towards the current government, opening up the opportunity for change.

“People are soul-searching in PNG,” she said. “I think there’s a preparedness say we just don’t want more of the same. And so that might allow more of an opportunity for women.”

According to Somare-Brash, there was a wealth of strong and talented female candidates who were prepared to contest the coming elections.

“Many of these women sitting in the room with me have really, really strong community experience, and really, really strong self-sustaining capabilities that have been overlooked.

“Fifty per cent, or probably 60 per cent, of our productive capacity, has been ignored in Papua New Guinea because women have been under-utilised.”

Somare-Brash will be contesting the East Sepik Regional seat for the Pangu Pati in this year’s elections, with polling due to begin in late June. - RNZI

Empowerment key to development

PACIFIC – The secretary general of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat says the key to sustainable and resilient development in Pacific communities is the economic empowerment of Pacific women.

Dame Meg Taylor, in marking International Women’s Day thi seek, said when young women were empowered they were free to make their own decisions.

She said the flow-on effects were enormous.

Dame Meg said increased female labour force participation would lead to faster economic growth, while evidence shows that when more of the household income is controlled by women the beneficial spending on children improves.

She said she and the Forum leaders are committed to advancing gender equality across the region.

The organisation said women in the region still experienced limited job opportunities, under-representation in management positions, and workplace harassment.

The United Nations says Pacific nations are missing out on economic benefits by not fostering gender equality.

Deputy representative at the Pacific office for UN Women Nicolas Burniat said women also faced more limited employment opportunities, despite making up a significant portion of the informal economy.

Burniat said the under-utilisation of half the population meant the potential of the Pacific’s economies was also being under-utilised.

“The most serious economic organisations have studied and demonstrated that economically empowering women basically creates a massive return in GDP for the whole country.

“So not only is economically empowering women the right thing to do from a rights perspective, it’s also the smart thing to do from a rights perspective.”

- RNZI