Milestone for Women in PNG

“Your Parliament – Your Voice”

From the Office of the Speaker

 

The following article was forwarded to me by Ms Lisa Baker from the Western Australia Parliament.  Ms Baker is the Chair of the Steering Committee of the CWPG (Commonwealth Women’s Parliamentarian Group - Australian Region). The article is about seats for women in the Parliament of Papua New Guinea and as today Friday the 25^th of November 2011 is White Ribbon Day, the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, I thought this article would be of timely interest.

 "Vote hailed as milestone for women in PNG (Jo Chandler November 24, 2011)

WOMEN danced, wept and embraced outside the Papua New Guinea Parliament yesterday as years of campaigning culminated in a watershed vote to allow 22 reserved seats for women in the almost exclusively male chamber, where just one of 109 seats is presently held by a female. With time running out before the 2012 general election, expectation and anxiety were high among supporters of the bill, with women loudly admonishing MPs from the packed public gallery when the debate was delayed on Monday.

But encouraged by Prime Minister Peter O'Neill, the constitutional amendment to allow the women's seats, one for each province, was eventually passed by 72 votes to two, with several members abstaining and some absent.

''Only with the input of women will PNG go on and thrive to become a great nation,'' said Mr. O'Neill. The president of the National Council of Women, Schola Kakas, described the move as ''a cry of the mothers of this nation''. She added: ''So many of our problems as a society are faced by women - health, violence, maternal mortality. Only women can understand what must be done to make things better.”

One of the nation's most seasoned female political campaigners, Greens leader Dorothy Tekwie, was in the country's remote north-west when she heard the news. She said women around her were overjoyed at the bill, which she said was required if women were to push through fiercely male-dominated political and social cultures. ''They were just jubilant, clapping their hands. They said - the men too - 'Taim bilong ol meri' - 'time for women'.''

Celebrations were later tempered by confusion even among experts and key players as to whether the Equality and Participation Bill (or the Women's Bill, as it is widely known) faces another legislative hurdle if the women's seats are to be in place in time for next year's general election.

Dame Carol Kidu, the sole elected woman in the Parliament and sponsor of the bill, said a critical second element of the bill had vanished from the notice paper, but she hoped it would be resolved in the next few days. If not, the seats would probably not be in place by the poll. This issue remains on a knife edge, she said, as the enabling legislation will require more votes to pass than the number which secured the constitutional reform yesterday.

The vote marked a huge milestone in PNG and signalled a hunger for change in the nation, said Dame Carol. ''A lot of people who in the early days said they would never support it are supporting it now. So whatever happens, there has been huge progress.'' Queensland-born Dame Carol, 63, the widow of former chief justice Sir Buri Kidu, will retire at next year's election. Given entrenched cultural and financial barriers to women's participation in politics, there were wide concerns that PNG could become the 10th nation in the world without a single elected female, most of them being Australia's near neighbours in the Pacific.

''The changes are very significant,'' said Dr Jim Macpherson, a member of the PNG legislative working group. ''They are the first changes to the membership of Parliament since independence - and in some ways a stunning reversal and recognition of the way gender assumptions have excluded women from decision-making.''

The next sitting of the Legislative Assembly is on Wednesday 7 December 2011 at 10 am.

To read the Notice Paper, Programme and Minutes of Proceedings and legislation tabled in the House go to www.info.gov.nf. Issued from the Office of the Speaker on 25 November 2011 and posted on the blog site http://yourparliamentyourvoice.blogspot.com