The lack of women representation in parliaments across the world remains a vexed and contentious issue.

In Fiji, this problem has again surfaced for debate in response to Deputy Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamica’s call for a quota system to increase women’s representation in Parliament.

Kamikamica was speaking at the “Capacity Building Training for Prospective Women and Youth Candidates in Local Elections” workshop in Suva in November last year.

• READ MORE: Other gender in Pacific politics reports

The workshop was organised by Suva-based civil society organisation, Dialogue Fiji, in collaboration with Emily’s List Australia and funded by Misereor.

Kamikamica noted that women’s representation in Fiji’s Parliament peaked at 20 percent in 2018, only to drop to 14 percent after the 2022 elections.

He highlighted what he saw as an anomaly — 238,389 women voted in the 2022 election, surpassing men’s turnout.

However, women candidates garnered only 37,252 votes, accounting for just 8 percent of the total votes cast. This saw only six out of 54 female candidates elected to Parliament.

Reducing financial barriers
He said implementing supportive policies and initiatives, such as reducing financial barriers to running for office and providing childcare support could address some of the structural challenges faced by aspiring female leaders.

While agreeing with Kamikamica’s supportive remarks, Suva-based lawyer and former journalist Sainiana Radrodro called for urgent and concrete actions to empower aspiring women candidates besides just discussions.

She identified finance, societal norms and more recently, bullying on social media, as major obstacles for women aspiring for political careers. She said measures to address these problems were either insufficient, or non-existent.

Radrodro, who participated in the 2024 Women’s “Mock Parliament”, supports a quota system, but only as a temporary special measure (TSM). TSM is designed to advance gender equality by addressing structural, social, and cultural barriers, correcting past and present discrimination, and compensating for harm and inequalities.

The lawyer said that TSM could be a useful tool if applied in a measured way, noting that countries that rushed into implementing it faced a backlash due to poor advocacy and public understanding.

She recommends TSM based on prior and proper dialogue and awareness to ensure that women elected through such measures are not marginalised or stereotyped as having “ridden on the back of government policies”.

She said with women comprising half of the national population, it was sensible to have proportional representation in Parliament.

Social media attacks
While she agreed with Kamikamica that finance remained a significant obstacle for Fijian women seeking public office, she stated that non-financial barriers, such as attacks on social media, should not be overlooked.

To level the playing field, Radrodro’s suggestions include government subsidies for women candidates, similar to the support provided to farmers and small businesses.

“This would signal a genuine commitment by the government to foster women’s participation in the legislature,” she said.

Radrodro’s views were echoed by the University of the South Pacific postgraduate student in sociology, Lovelyn Laurelle Giva-Tuke.

She advocates a holistic approach encompassing financial assistance, specific legislation to address violence against women in political contexts; capacity-building programs to equip women with leadership, campaigning, and public speaking skills; and measures to ensure fair and equitable media coverage, rather than stereotyped and discriminatory coverage.

Giva-Tuke emphasised that society as a whole stand to benefit from a gender balanced political establishment. This was also highlighted by Kamikamica in his address. He cited research showing that women leaders tended to prioritise healthcare, education, and social welfare.

While there is no disagreement about the problem, and the needs to address it, Giva-Tuke, like Radrodro, believes that discussions and ideas must translate into action.

“As a nation, we can and must do more to create an inclusive political landscape that values women’s contributions at every level,” she said.

Protection another hurdle
For Radrodro, one of the most urgent and unaddressed problems is the targeting of women with harmful social media content, which is rampant and unchecked in Fiji.

“There is a very high level of attacks against women on social media even from women against other women. These raises reservations in potential women candidates who now have another hurdle to cross.”

Radrodro said a lot of women were simply terrified of being abused online and having their lives splashed across social media, which was also harmful for their children and families.

She said it was disheartening to see the lack of consistent support from leaders when women politicians faced personal attacks.

She called for stronger policies and enforcement to curb online harassment, urging national leaders to take a stand against such behavior.

Another female rights campaigner, the Fiji Women’s Rights Movement executive director Nalini Singh, called for stronger and more effective collaboration between stakeholders — communal groups, women’s groups, local government departments, political parties and the Fijian Elections Office.

Singh highlighted the need for a major educational campaign to change the mindsets with gender sensitisation programs targeting communities. She also recommended increased civic education and awareness of government structures and electoral systems.

Temporary law changes
While she supported reserved parliamentary seats for women, Singh said temporary changes in laws or regulations to eliminate systemic barriers and promote gender equality were also needed.

Singh also highlighted the importance of bridging the generational gaps between older women who have worked in local government, and young women with an interest in joining the political space by establishment of mentoring programmes.

She said mandating specific changes or participation levels within a defined timeframe and advocacy and awareness campaigns targeted at changing societal attitudes and promoting the inclusion of underrepresented groups were other options.

“These are just some ways or strategies to help increase representation of women in leadership spaces, especially their participation in politics,” said Singh.

The views of women such as Sainiana Radrodro, Lovelyn Laurelle Giva-Tuke and Nalini Singh indicate not just what needs to be done to address this problem, but also how little has actually been done.

On his part, Kamikamica has said all the right things, demonstrating a good understanding of the weaknesses in the system. What is lacking is the application of these ideas and sentiments in a real and practical sense.

Unless this is done, the ideas will remain just that — ideas.

Monika Singh is a teaching assistant with The University of the South Pacific’s Journalism Programme and the supervising editor of the student newspaper Wansolwara. This article is first published by The Fiji Times and is republished here as part of a collaboration between USP Journalism and Asia Pacific Report.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

“CPJ is deeply disturbed by the killing of journalists Hasan Mehedi, Md. Shakil Hossain, and Abu Taher Md Turab while they were reporting on the quota protests in Bangladesh,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi. “The Bangladesh government must hold to account those responsible for all assaults on journalists and fully restore internet and phone services to allow the free flow of information needed to cover matters of public interest.”

Bangladesh authorities imposed an internet shutdown and severely disrupted mobile services on July 18. Broadband internet was partially restored in limited areas on Tuesday evening, but mobile services and social media remained blocked as of July 26.

Mehedi, a reporter for the news website Dhaka Times, was fatally shot on July 18 while covering clashes in the Jatrabari area of Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, according to news reports. Dhaka Times editor Arifur Rahman Dolon told CPJ that Mehedi was killed by law enforcement officials, but limited internet availability prevented him providing additional details.

Hossain, a correspondent for Daily Bhorer Awaj newspaper, was also killed on July 18 while reporting in Bangladesh’s central Gazipur city, according to the Sweden-based investigative news website Netra News and the journalists’ association Dhaka Reporters Unity.

Turab, a reporter for the Daily Jalalabad and Daily Naya Diganta newspapers, was wearing a press vest when he was fatally shot by police firing into a July 19 procession of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party in northeast Sylhet city, according to New Age newspaper and a Daily Jalalabad reporter, who spoke to CPJ anonymously for fear of reprisal.

Meanwhile on July 18, protesters set fire to the headquarters of state-run Bangladesh Television in Dhaka, as well as several of the broadcaster’s vehicles, when riot police retreated inside the premises.  

CPJ has confirmed attacks on the 14 journalists listed below and is continuing to investigate reports that dozens more have been assaulted either by police, protesters, or supporters of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of the ruling Awami League party. Of the 14, several required hospital treatment for injuries including head wounds.

Police attacks

July 16
Police fired rubber bullets at newspaper correspondents Mehedi Mamun (Daily Bonik Barta); Wajahatul Islam, (Daily Janakantha); Abdur Rahman Khan Sarjil, (Dainik Bangla), and freelancer Jubayer Ahmed, despite their identifying themselves as journalists covering demonstrations at Jahangirnagar University (JU), on the outskirts of Dhaka, Mamun and Islam told CPJ.

July 17
– Police grabbed the phone of Abdullah Al Mamun, a correspondent for Prothom Alo newspaper, while he was recording police action against students trying to leave JU’s campus. Al Mamun told CPJ that, despite identifying himself as a journalist and showing his press card, officers beat him with rifles and batons and fired a rubber bullet at him as he tried to flee.

– Shadique Mahbub Islam, a features writer for The Business Standard newspaper, told CPJ that police fired sound grenades at him and two other unidentified reporters while they were photographing a protester’s arrest at the Dhaka University (DU) campus. Police trying to surround protesting students again fired two sound grenades and tear gas in front of Islam later that day.

July 18
– Muktadir Rashid, a correspondent for Bangla Outlook website, told CPJ that he was hit with birdshot pellets as police and ruling party activists fired at protesters near Dhaka’s Mirpur police station.

– Jibon Ahmed, a photojournalist for Daily Manab Zamin newspaper, told CPJ that police in Dhaka fired lead pellets at a group reporting in the same area after he raised his hands and identified himself and around seven others as journalists.

Chhatra League attacks

July 15
– The Business Standard’s Islam told CPJ that despite showing his press identification, Chhatra League supporters beat him with rods and threw bricks at him as they forcibly dispersed protesters at DU’s campus.

– Prabir Das, a senior photographer for The Daily Star newspaper, told CPJ that Chhatra League supporters beat him with sticks while he was reporting from DU’s campus. Dipu Malakar, photojournalist for Prothom Alo newspaper, said he was also reporting on campus when a Chhatra League supporter threw a brick at him.

July 16
Chhatra League supporters beat Sakib Ahmed, a correspondent for the South Asian Times, with a rod and snatched his press card while he was reporting at JU, the journalist told CPJ.

Protester attacks

July 11
Protesters in the Shahbagh area of Dhaka pushed Somoy TV reporter Toha Khan Tamim and hit him with a helmet. Demonstrators also damaged the camera of the broadcaster’s senior video journalist Prince Arefin before chasing him, according to Omar Faroque, the broadcaster’s chief input editor.

July 16
Protesters in northern Bogura city beat Jamuna Television senior reporter and local bureau chief Meherul Sujon with bamboo sticks while he was wearing a press card and carrying a microphone, the journalist told CPJ.

Bangladesh’s state information minister Mohammad Ali Arafat and Chhatra League president Saddam Hussain did not respond to CPJ’s requests for comment sent via messaging app.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Arlene Getz/CPJ Editorial Director.

We are Lal Morich, a Bangladeshi anti-oppression mass base organization supporting genuine democratic movements just like the students in the quota reform movement who are fighting for something they genuinely believe. We educate, mobilize, and organize the Bangladeshi diaspora on the issues in our desh. Let us update you all on the current situation in Bangladesh since July 15.

Lal Morich stands with the students and masses who are waging a genuine anti-fascist movement against the Hasina-Awami League regime. Since early July, students have taken to the streets to courageously demand reform to the discriminatory civil service job quota system. The protesters are calling for a logical quota system that solely considers gender-oppressed, disabled, and indigenous people and removes the 30 percent quota for the children and grandchildren of freedom fighters, which mainly favors loyalists of the current fascist government.

The Hasina-Awami government initially responded to the protests by calling the protestors “razakars”. This furthered violence against protesters from the ruling party’s student wing, the Chatro League. A few days ago, the government dispatched the military.

The people of Bangladesh are now subjected to military curfew, checkpoints, and shoot-on-sight orders. The government shut down internet access and all but selective state-affiliated media is being censored. The media shutdown makes it difficult to gauge an accurate death toll but reports point to more than 170 deaths and more than 2500 injured by Chatro League, police, BGB, the armed force, and the US-UK trained paramilitary death squad RAB. There are accounts from families that agents from the Indian Intelligence agency, RAW, are carrying out activities in select areas.

The High Courts came to a decision on July 21 to scrap the quota system and create a new quota system, lowering the 30 percent quota for descendants of freedom fighters to 5 percent, and the remaining quotas down to 2 percent. This will open up the remaining 93 percent of jobs for all other Bangladeshis.

However, after the government’s brutal response on the protestors, different sections of students and youth have come to the realization that this is not just a battle for a logical quota system anymore but a fight against Awami League fascism. This is why Lal Morich rallied the Bangladeshi diasporas in Brooklyn, New York to do a mass teach-in on the root causes of the Quota reform movement.

On Saturday, July 20, in Kensington, Brooklyn, Lal Morich held a solidarity action and teach-in about the ongoing quota reform movement. The NYPD surrounded us immediately when we began our protest, attempting to herd and corral us. We responded by pointing to connections between the Bangladeshi police, NYPD and US military. There was a small group of community members, affiliated with the non-profit organization Desis Rising Up and Moving or DRUM, who confronted us in defense of the NYPD. The group began derailing our event, snatching mics from our organizers, and interrupting the march. They insisted that the issue is unrelated to the police in the United States and it’s solely about the police in Bangladesh. However, we understand these struggles are interconnected and our struggles are not isolated from one another. The faster we grasp this, the stronger our unity will be in the long run. The first question for any revolutionary movement is to understand: who is the friend of the people and who is the enemy?

The police exploited the situation and targeted Comrade Moh for Disorderly Conduct as they were using a microphone and criticizing the pro-American police element that drenches our community. Mid Speech and without warning, the comrade was arrested with physical force. Comrade Moh was taken to the 66th precinct where he faced humiliation. He was ordered by police to take off the lace from their pants before going inside the cell. The lace was not coming off so the cops cut the lace holding up his pants. The comrade recalls his pants fell off and he stood exposed for several seconds, while the officer made a joke while touching the comrade in a sexual manner without permission. These sexual and psychological abuse tactics are similar to what Bangladeshi police utilize on protestors to silence them. Additionally, these tactics are no different to tactics used by the IOF on Palestinians.

Let us repeat:

We do not work with cops.

We do not work with politicians.

We will not fall into NGOism.

Regretfully, this disruption derailed us from finishing our teach-in. We did not have the chance to fully highlight the brutal assaults and murders by the Awami League goonda. We did not get to honor the more than 170 martyrs with the vigil they deserved. We want to reiterate our solidarity and our commitment to this fight till the end.

We will not let our genuine solidarity with the mass movements against the fascist Awami regime in Bangladesh be co-opted by supporters of equally reactionary political such as the BNP and Jamaat. We will not tolerate NGOs attempting to cease momentum and misdirect the community’s rising revolutionary consciousness with state-approved pacification. We will continue to help build a movement by the masses for the masses, for a true liberation of the people of Bangladesh and its diasporas.

The fascist regime recognizes that the movement is no longer just about the Quota system, which is why they are doing everything in their power to weaken it. They have kidnapped and tortured leaders of the central movement. They have arrested over 500 people and filed over 60,000 reports against dissenters. Hasina is currently going on a PR tour to appease the foreign powers she sells the livelihood of the Bangladeshi masses to. If it was not enough for the Awami government to opportunistically posture against the genocide in Gaza, despite purchasing Israeli spyware, the Bangladesh Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is now taking a page out of the Israeli toolkit to accuse opposition parties of using student protestors as “shields”.

We must fight the tyranny of the fascist Sheik Hasina and Awami League. We must not let this fight end in yet another regime change between Awami League and its equally Fascist counterparts. We must build a united front against fascism, in all its forms, in Bangladesh.

We call for the resignation of the Hasina-Awami League and the call to build an anti-fascist front in Bangladesh against Awami-Hasina Fascism.

The post Solidarity With Quota Reform Movement In Bangladesh and Down with the Fascist Hasina-Awami League Regime appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by CounterPunch News Service.