27 Nov 2014

Call for more Pacific women decision makers

4:24 pm on 27 November 2014

A women's advocate says Pacific governments need to do more to give women the opportunity to participate in politics.

Women have never comprised more than 10% of the membership of Pacific Forum parliaments and the percentage of women in parliaments across the region currently sits at about 5.

During this month's Solomon Islands election, only one of the 50 successful candidates was a woman.

The executive director of FemLINK Pacific Sharon Bhagwan Rolls says there need to be more avenues for women to be involved in decision-making.

Ms Bhagwan Rolls says this applies not just for parliament, but village, town councils and local government authorities.

Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls

Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls Photo: RNZI Sally Round

"Every single structure must have gender equality, equal representation of women, and for women to participate in elections or decision-making, they also must be supported by the political structures."

16 women are standing in today's elections in Tonga.