Photo and Excerpt from undp.org
Women in leadership positions each have their own story of struggle and triumph. While their journeys are unique, they share a common thread: nothing was handed to them; their wins have all been hard fought.
Be it a 60-year-old woman fighting for a senate seat in Kiribati, or a young climate campaigner angling for her voice to be heard in Nauru, gaining a seat at the table has often, and remains, a relentless task.
The fight for equality in positions of leadership is women wanting an equal share, the chance to join hands with humanity to ensure that all voices are heard.
Despite tangible efforts across the Pacific to bring about change for women and girls in leadership, we find ourselves at a standstill. In fact, if anything, the numbers show that gender equality in the region’s political space is in decline. At present, fewer than seven percent of Pacific politicians are women, compared to 27 percent globally.
There are tangible differences between the three sub-regions of the Pacific: Melanesia, Polynesia, and Micronesia. The status of women in ‘traditional’ contexts has a direct correlation with the status of women in institutionalized leadership roles. In Fiji, by way of example, women can hold chiefly title, resulting in women’s participation in both politics and government outweighing that of women in Melanesia and Micronesia. In Micronesia, the participation of women in positions of leadership is primarily achieved through access to and the subsequent distribution of assets; of which women unfortunately remain without access to.
The UNDP Pacific Office has travelled across the length and breadth of Micronesia, with the North Pacific seeing a plethora of women pushing to be agents of change within all spheres and spaces – at national, sub-national and community levels.
Pockets of change, stories of hope, and a steadfast ambition to defy the odds abound, and while there is diversity in the challenges our women face, there is unity through the pillars of family, community, and a love of country.
These are a selection of their stories…
