WORKSHOP PREPARES WOMEN FOR SHOW
‘ONE THING WE HAVE UNDERSTOOD WELL, IS THAT GENDER BASED VIOLENCE IS A RESULT OF GENDER INEQUALITY’ ‘The women of rural and maritime areas like you have a unique inheritance of Fijian arts, craft and culture’
■ The following is Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation Mereseini Vuniwaqa’s speech during the Opening of the Eastern Women’s Capacity Building workshop yesterday.
UNDP and Government officials, facilitators, dear ladies of the Eastern Division, friends from the media; a very good morning.
It is an honour for me to be here with you this morning. You, the women of the Eastern division, from the provinces of Lau, Kadavu, Lomaiviti and Rotuma have travelled days ahead of the National Women’s Expo from so far away.
This is proof of your dedication as artisans and entrepreneurs and it really is a joy for my Ministry to host you. It is therefore, our duty to ensure that we provide you with the best possible opportunities during your stay in Suva, and I wish to thank United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the REACH team for facilitating this programme for you today. The women of rural and maritime areas like you have a unique inheritance of Fijian arts, craft and culture. But you also have your own set of challenges. Rural women are leaders, entrepreneurs and service providers, and their contributions are vital to the well-being of families, communities and economies, and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Creating an equitable enabling environment for our women
It is too important that in times where we are striving to promote women’s economic empowerment, that we create an equitable enabling environment for our women. This is the smart thing to do for any nation because if we fail to develop and empower half of our country’s population we will continue to leave behind half of our national resourcefulness; we will continue to deny ourselves the wealth of diverse perspectives; we will indeed continue to live without the benefit of half of our national wealth. It has also been established by UNWomen that rural women also face more difficulty than men in accessing public services, social protection, employment and markets, due to cultural norms, security issues and lack of identification documents.
Rights, Empowerment and Cohesion for Rural and Urban Fijians Project
We saw this time as an opportune one to bring to you essential services that you may not be able to easily access under the co-ordination of the REACH Project. Two years ago the Fijian Government, the Government of Japan and the UNDP jointly signed an agreement to improve the access of disadvantaged Fijians to social and legal services, and so the REACH Project was born.
REACH – Rights, Empowerment and Cohesion for Rural and Urban Fijians Project is linked to the Sustainable Development Goals through the empowerment of women and girls (SDG5) and the promotion of peaceful and inclusive society for sustainable development, provision of access to justice for all and building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions (SDG16).
The REACH Programme is designed to provide equitable opportunities for ordinary Fijians in the urban, rural and the maritime communities across Fiji to gain access to the legal, social and economic services provided by the Fijian Government by their door step through outreach. A key component of this outreach is that the groups providing it are not stationary, but mobile; in other words they are meeting those in need of services at the locations where those in need are.
Reaching out
In addition to delivering services, outreach has an educational role, raising the awareness of existing services. In April this year, we launched three buses that serve as mobile buses to cater for the needs of the service providers and the clients alike in making service delivery easier, timely and efficient.
In due course, the REACH services will be brought to the communities you live in as well.
Today, you heard from officials from the Department of Social Welfare, Department of Women, Legal Aid Commission, Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Commission, and the Fiji Police Force regarding Gender Based Violence, which I will speak about shortly.
These organisations have been our partners in the outreach programmes that are carried out at the community level as well. You can hear about their programmes and be provided with the services right here. I encourage all of you gather as much information as possible, and further disseminate to others in your communities when you return home after the expo.
Fighting gender based violence
Having mentioned the challenges that rural women face in accessing services and economic opportunities, it is safe to say that Gender based Violence is one of the most severe, detrimental, and inhumane obstacle in the empowerment of women. One thing we have understood well, is that gender based violence is a result of gender inequality. Societies and homes where gender inequality is prevalent are also the very ones where gender violence is also prevalent. The saddest part is, a majority of this violence happens within homes and is perpetrated by men on women they share an intimate relationship with.
Fiji can no longer afford to let its women suffer in silence. Government has shown its commitment by allocating programme budgets for the elimination of violence against women and the Domestic Violence helpline. Our domestic violence helpline 1560 is going to further break the silence on violence. I wish to remind you that it is your right to be safe, protected and to have access to justice through legal services. I hope you have taken good note of the services that are available for you and all Fijian women and that you will help anyone in need with relevant information regarding these services.
I wish to also reiterate that ending violence is not only the responsibility of Government and service providers.
It is up to us as families to instill good values in our children to grow up to be adults who respect others regardless of their gender; to treat our spouses with love and respect; to speak openly about violence and other social issues to understand them better; and to educate ourselves on our rights and responsibilities. It is also up to our community and church leaders to speak to us about this terrible problem and support women who are victims and counsel men who are perpetrators of violence.
Support system
We need to establish a support system around us in times of need so that we can reach safety. You as women also have a duty towards your sisters who are suffering at the hands of the man who was meant to protect her. Listen to them, look out for each other, ask your leaders to address this issue, report violence against women. We all have a part to play.
I am also pleased to note that you will be visiting the Parliament of Fiji later today and also meet with other women Members of Parliament. Women’s leadership and equal participation in decision making is an extremely crucial area of development and sadly across the globe there is slow progress in this area.
Women’s leadership
Women’s leadership is the opening act toward a more inclusive, equal, and balanced society. Developing the environment that enables women to have a full and equal voice in our communities, institutions, enterprises, and public electorate is the most logical thing to do as women leaders bring a diversity of thought, better governance and organisational performance, leveraging of human capital, and promotes equal representation in the decision making processes.
Your meeting with the women MPs will give you the opportunity to see and learn from them how women leaders at the parliamentary level work, the challenges and opportunities they have had as leaders and understand their vision for our nation.
With these words, I welcome you and wish all the very best for today’s programme. See you at the National Women’s Expo. Vinaka