19 Mar 2012

Former Fiji taxi boss should apologise for comments says women's NGO

4:20 pm on 19 March 2012

The co-ordinator of the Fiji Women's Crisis Centre says the former general secretary of the Fiji Taxi Association should apologise to women for his comments over sexual harrassment.

Rishi Ram has stepped down from his position following an outcry over his suggestion that if women stop wearing short skirts taxi drivers won't sexually harrass them.

He says he didn't mean to hurt anyone and he was only trying to educate women passengers.

But the crisis centre's Shamima Ali says his comments weren't helpful.

"He could have talked to the women, he could have talked to the organisation, the Fiji Women's Rights Movement, he could have talked to us and said how do we address it, you know rather than - and I'm sure he thought - because like many other people they think it's being helpful when they tell women how to behave. But we've moved on from there."

Shamima Ali says there's been a conspiracy of silence around sexual harrassment and abuse of women in Fiji.