The leaders of the women's Mau: Mrs Tuimaliifano, Mrs Tamasese, Mrs Nelson, Mrs Faumuina, photographed c 1930. (courtesy of the National Library of New Zealand)
Today, here where I live, there’s an all day conference specifically for women. The purpose of the conference Real Women Run is to “encourage women to run for public office, work on political campaigns, serve on public boards and commissions, and participate more actively in the making of public policy.”
Our state does have an embarrassingly low number of women representatives in all levels of government which is exactly what prompted this conference. I don’t have the stats to back this up but I’m willing to bet that this is probably true of most every state and every country for that matter. And this does need to change!
We women must become more actively involved in the policies and legislations that dictate our lives and not just by exercising our rights to vote although it’s very important that we do that too. We must have a voice in drafting, revising, and enacting our laws and regulations. Which means becoming intimately involved in politics and running for office and yes (as much as I hate to think it) becoming politicians. I can’t think of a job I’d hate more than that of a politician, what with all the butt kissing to get the votes you need, the back stabbing, the empty promises that are forgotten as quickly as they’re made, the never ending demands to please everybody, the continuing necessity of selling yourself, the fundraising, the campaigning, gosh the list goes on and on. What’s there to like about being a politician?
Still, politicians make the rules so more women need to be politicians.
So with the publicity this conference has had this week, it was somewhat of a de ja vu to open up the link to yesterday’s Samoa Observer and find that this same issue is in the spotlight there too. Mata’afa Lesa voiced his concern about Samoa goverment’s proposal to change the constitution to ensure that at least 10% of every Parliament sitting are women.
I’m with Mata’afa on this one. Members of Parliament, men and women, should be voted in on their own merits and not be handed a seat in order to meet a certain quota. Giving someone a seat just because they’re of a certain sex belittles that person because we’re basically saying that they’re not intelligent enough or good enough to be voted in by their qualifications. It also makes mockery of the democratic process and our rights as citizens to decide who we want to represent us. I understand that there are many challenges that women have to overcome but I don’t want to represented by someone who got in there just because she’s a woman.
If our Samoan government want to ensure that there are more women in Parliament, then the place to start is at our elementary and primary schools. Ensure that girls are given an equal chance for education from the primary level and on through to government scholarships to study at the university level. Give our Samoan girls every opportunity to excel and continue their education and then we’ll see more women in our Parliament and in other leadership positions in Samoa.
