Puna happy with ’empowerment of women’

Prime Minister Henry Puna has said during a press conference that the Cook Islands is “happy where we are now in terms of empowerment of women”.

Asked whether his government was doing enough to achieve gender equality, he said he was proud that the Cook Islands has a female speaker of the house and that 40 percent of its heads of ministries are women.

He added that there was “a lot of consultation” in the Cook Islands over the question of female representation in parliament, and said women were vocal in their rejection of the idea of affirmative action.

“Our women themselves have said no, they would rather get there on their own merits rather than receiving preferential treatment and that is something to be applauded and respected,” he said during a post-Forum press conference yesterday.

Of the Cook Islands’ steps toward achieving gender equality, he said, “These are major achievements and something we’re proud of but at the same time violence against women is a major issue (and Forum) leaders (have) agreed to support any moves both regionally and nationally to address that.”

Puna added that the Cook Islands has a Family Law Bill in the pipeline and is reviewing the Crimes Act to ensure the former’s statues are enforceable.

Overseas media asked him what has taken his government “so long” to enact the measures he had referenced.

“So long according to whose timeframe?” Puna asked. “It’s easy to get carried away with figures without really appreciating the efforts in the background.

“I don’t agree that we should just look at figures and make our own conclusions.”

He told reporters to respect the progress Pacific countries are making in the area of gender equality.

“Whatever they try and do to achieve gender (equality) must be respected and applauded,” he said.

Five percent of the region’s parliamentarians are women, and over 60 percent of women in some Pacific countries have been physically or sexually abused.