Fiji's National Council of Women says it's appalled at Suva City's lack of commitment to providing decent shelters for women market vendors.
The Council says the administration is about to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a beautification project yet has reneged on a promise to provide shelter for the rural women who come to Suva each weekend to sell their produce.
The NCW general secretary, Fay Volatabu, says these women end up sleeping on the pavement and have no ready access to toilets.
Ms Volatabu says the government needs to be reminded of outstanding issues of market access and gender equality and services for rural women.
"They have been doing this for the last 30 years since Fiji got independence but nothing has been done to cater for the needs of these women. They sleep outside to come and sell to us yet there are no shelters, and we have been requesting for shelters for these women so they could sleep here in order to sell their market goods the next day. They can't go home because they have all their cargo with them."
The Fiji National Council of Women's general secretary, Fay Volatabu.
