Women urged to support each other

No woman leader was elected into any of the 111 parliamentary seats in the 2017 elections, despite a record number of women candidates registering for the contest.

In a panel discussion during the Business and Professional Women’s club breakfast last week, women were urged to support one another in order to succeed in elections.

Ruth Undi, the Founder and President of Mama-Halipim-Mama Inc, said as a businesswoman, funding is not the problem.

She echoed that women must start networking with one another if they plan to stand for the 2022 general elections.

“You have to build your foundation; you have to connect with other sisters if you want to stand for election,” Undi stated.

“There is one thing about us women, we never come together. This has to change, whether you’re a corporate woman, business woman or grassroots woman.”

She added, if women want to see 10 to 15 of their peers in the 2022 or 2027 elections, they have to work together as a team.

Keynote speaker, Dr Fiona Hukula, senior researcher with the National Research Institute, explained that one of the programs that NRI is dedicated to is gender research with a focus on women in leadership, particularly women in parliament.

“Key findings showed that women’s participation in politics will continue to be difficult because of various structural barriers we face relating to traditional notions of leadership that women are not capable of entering parliament, financial difficulties, electoral irregularities, vote buying which is also the case for men,” she stated.

Dr Hukula said according to the study that was conducted, as long as these structural barriers are in place, women in PNG who have political ambitions will continue to struggle.

She added that is why she and her colleagues have been advocating for special measures to enable women to enter parliament.

Temporary special measure is a form of assistance that aims to improve women’s participation and representation in politics.

(Businesswoman Ruth Undi)

Author: 
Jemimah Sukbat