British High Commissioner Paul Turner was joined by Minister for
Women, Youth, Children and Family Affairs, Hon. Kathy Nori MP,
and Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Matthew Wale MP on a
high-level panel to discuss the financial and cultural barriers
to women's participation in politics in the Solomon Islands.
The panel was part of a workshop organised by the Westminster Foundation for
Democracy (WFD). Also on the panel were Chief Electoral
Officer Jasper Highwood Anisi and Dr Alice Pollard who gave a
very personal account of her struggles standing as an electoral
candidate and the disappointments that followed in losing
elections.
The High Commissioner said that across the world, diverse voices
strengthened democracies and in the case of Solomons this meant a
far greater number of women needed to be elected in national and
provincial assemblies. He said that since independence in 1978,
only 8 women in total had ever been elected to the national
parliament in Solomons, one of the lowest anywhere in the world.
The High Commissioner highlighted recent research by WFD which
showed how financial constraints limit women candidates.
Campaigning required significant resources and women were less
likely to have access to personal income, land and financial
assets. He said that more targeted financial support is needed to
be provided to women candidates and called for greater
transparency of campaign financing and more equitable allocation
of resources to level the playing field.
Minister Nori outlined the challenges she had experienced in
securing a Parliamentary seat. She said that women needed to
overcome local expectation that they should be family based and
focused on being the providers rather than the leaders of their
communities. This shift in mindset had to happen across the
Solomon Islands for women to have a chance of reaching their
political aspirations but many were put off by the struggle.
Matthew Wale underlined the importance of women using their local
Kastom and cultural networks to garner support and build up local
recognition. He accepted this was more difficult for women and
urged potential women candidates to join political parties so
they could draw on the experience and resources that parties can
offer. Wale said the problem with parties having reserved quotas
for women candidates is that many women did not want to join
political parties and opted instead to be independent candidates.
The panel agreed that a greater number of women in national and
provincial assemblies would mean greater focus on important
sectors such as health, education as well as community
stability.
The High Commissioner underlined his personal experience from
working in Northern Ireland and the Balkans in the 1990s and
2000s. He said it was the locally organised women's groups that
were instrumental in reaching out across divided communities in
Sarajevo and Belfast, organising political groupings to work for
long-term peace.
