Motarilavoa Hilda Lini, a pioneering Ni-Vanuatu politician, has died.

Lini passed away at the Port Vila General Hospital on Sunday, according to local news media.

Lini was the first woman to be elected to the Vanuatu Parliament in 1987 as a member of the National United Party.

She went on to become the country’s first female minister in 1991 after being appointed as the Minister for Health and Rural Water Supplies. She held several ministerial portfolios until the late 1990s, serving three terms in Parliament.

While Health Minister, she helped to persuade the World Health Organisation to bring the question of the legality of nuclear weapons to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

She received the Nuclear-Free Future Award in 2005.

She was the sister of the late Father Walter Lini, who is regarded as the country’s founding father.

Chief of the Turaga nation
She was a chief of the Turaga nation of Pentecost Island in Vanuatu.

“On behalf of the government, we wish to extend our deepest condolences to the Lini family for the passing of late Motarilavoa Hilda Lini — one of the first to break through our male-dominated Parliament during those hey days,” the Vanuatu Ministry for the Prime Minister said in a statement today.

“She later championed many causes, including a Nuclear-Free Pacific. Rest in Peace soldier, for you have fought a great fight.

In a condolence message posted on Facebook, Vanuatu’s Speaker Stephen Dorrick Felix Ma Au Malfes said Lini was “a trailblazer who paved the way for women in leadership and politics in Vanuatu”.

“Her courage, dedication, and vision inspired many and have left an indelible mark on the history of our nation.

“As Vanuatu continues to grow and celebrate its independence, her story and contributions will forever be remembered and honoured. She has left behind a legacy filled with wisdom, strength, and cherished memories that we will carry with us always.”

A Vanuatu human rights women’s rights advocate, Anne Pakoa, said Lini was a “Pacific hero”.

‘Wise and humble leader’
“She was a woman of integrity, a prestigious, wise and yet very humble woman leader,” Pakoa wrote in a Facebook post.

Port Vila MP Marie Louise Milne, the third woman to represent the capital in Parliament after the late Lini and the late Maria Crowby, said “Lini was more than a leader”.

“She was a pioneer . . . serving our country with strength, dignity, and an unshakable commitment to justice and peace. She carried her chiefly title with pride, wisdom, and purpose, always serving with the voice of a true daughter of the land,” Milne said.

“I remember her powerful presence at the Independence Day flag-raising ceremonies, calling me ‘Marie Louise’ in her firm, commanding tone — a voice that resonated with leadership and care.”

“Though I am not in Port Vila to pay my last respects in person, I carry her memory with me in my heart, in my work, and in my prayers. My thoughts are with the Lini family and all who mourn this national loss.”

She said Lini’s legacy lives on in every woman who rises to serve, in every ni-Vanuatu who believes in justice and unity.

“She will forever remain a symbol of strength for Vanuatu and for all Melanesian women.”

Motarilavoa Hilda Lini will be buried in North Pentecost tomorrow.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Motarilavoa Hilda Lini, a pioneering Ni-Vanuatu politician, has died.

Lini passed away at the Port Vila General Hospital on Sunday, according to local news media.

Lini was the first woman to be elected to the Vanuatu Parliament in 1987 as a member of the National United Party.

She went on to become the country’s first female minister in 1991 after being appointed as the Minister for Health and Rural Water Supplies. She held several ministerial portfolios until the late 1990s, serving three terms in Parliament.

While Health Minister, she helped to persuade the World Health Organisation to bring the question of the legality of nuclear weapons to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

She received the Nuclear-Free Future Award in 2005.

She was the sister of the late Father Walter Lini, who is regarded as the country’s founding father.

Chief of the Turaga nation
She was a chief of the Turaga nation of Pentecost Island in Vanuatu.

“On behalf of the government, we wish to extend our deepest condolences to the Lini family for the passing of late Motarilavoa Hilda Lini — one of the first to break through our male-dominated Parliament during those hey days,” the Vanuatu Ministry for the Prime Minister said in a statement today.

“She later championed many causes, including a Nuclear-Free Pacific. Rest in Peace soldier, for you have fought a great fight.

In a condolence message posted on Facebook, Vanuatu’s Speaker Stephen Dorrick Felix Ma Au Malfes said Lini was “a trailblazer who paved the way for women in leadership and politics in Vanuatu”.

“Her courage, dedication, and vision inspired many and have left an indelible mark on the history of our nation.

“As Vanuatu continues to grow and celebrate its independence, her story and contributions will forever be remembered and honoured. She has left behind a legacy filled with wisdom, strength, and cherished memories that we will carry with us always.”

A Vanuatu human rights women’s rights advocate, Anne Pakoa, said Lini was a “Pacific hero”.

‘Wise and humble leader’
“She was a woman of integrity, a prestigious, wise and yet very humble woman leader,” Pakoa wrote in a Facebook post.

Port Vila MP Marie Louise Milne, the third woman to represent the capital in Parliament after the late Lini and the late Maria Crowby, said “Lini was more than a leader”.

“She was a pioneer . . . serving our country with strength, dignity, and an unshakable commitment to justice and peace. She carried her chiefly title with pride, wisdom, and purpose, always serving with the voice of a true daughter of the land,” Milne said.

“I remember her powerful presence at the Independence Day flag-raising ceremonies, calling me ‘Marie Louise’ in her firm, commanding tone — a voice that resonated with leadership and care.”

“Though I am not in Port Vila to pay my last respects in person, I carry her memory with me in my heart, in my work, and in my prayers. My thoughts are with the Lini family and all who mourn this national loss.”

She said Lini’s legacy lives on in every woman who rises to serve, in every ni-Vanuatu who believes in justice and unity.

“She will forever remain a symbol of strength for Vanuatu and for all Melanesian women.”

Motarilavoa Hilda Lini will be buried in North Pentecost tomorrow.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The lack of women representation in parliaments across the world remains a vexed and contentious issue.

In Fiji, this problem has again surfaced for debate in response to Deputy Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamica’s call for a quota system to increase women’s representation in Parliament.

Kamikamica was speaking at the “Capacity Building Training for Prospective Women and Youth Candidates in Local Elections” workshop in Suva in November last year.

The workshop was organised by Suva-based civil society organisation, Dialogue Fiji, in collaboration with Emily’s List Australia and funded by Misereor.

Kamikamica noted that women’s representation in Fiji’s Parliament peaked at 20 percent in 2018, only to drop to 14 percent after the 2022 elections.

He highlighted what he saw as an anomaly — 238,389 women voted in the 2022 election, surpassing men’s turnout.

However, women candidates garnered only 37,252 votes, accounting for just 8 percent of the total votes cast. This saw only six out of 54 female candidates elected to Parliament.

Reducing financial barriers
He said implementing supportive policies and initiatives, such as reducing financial barriers to running for office and providing childcare support could address some of the structural challenges faced by aspiring female leaders.

While agreeing with Kamikamica’s supportive remarks, Suva-based lawyer and former journalist Sainiana Radrodro called for urgent and concrete actions to empower aspiring women candidates besides just discussions.

She identified finance, societal norms and more recently, bullying on social media, as major obstacles for women aspiring for political careers. She said measures to address these problems were either insufficient, or non-existent.

Radrodro, who participated in the 2024 Women’s “Mock Parliament”, supports a quota system, but only as a temporary special measure (TSM). TSM is designed to advance gender equality by addressing structural, social, and cultural barriers, correcting past and present discrimination, and compensating for harm and inequalities.

The lawyer said that TSM could be a useful tool if applied in a measured way, noting that countries that rushed into implementing it faced a backlash due to poor advocacy and public understanding.

She recommends TSM based on prior and proper dialogue and awareness to ensure that women elected through such measures are not marginalised or stereotyped as having “ridden on the back of government policies”.

She said with women comprising half of the national population, it was sensible to have proportional representation in Parliament.

Social media attacks
While she agreed with Kamikamica that finance remained a significant obstacle for Fijian women seeking public office, she stated that non-financial barriers, such as attacks on social media, should not be overlooked.

To level the playing field, Radrodro’s suggestions include government subsidies for women candidates, similar to the support provided to farmers and small businesses.

“This would signal a genuine commitment by the government to foster women’s participation in the legislature,” she said.

Radrodro’s views were echoed by the University of the South Pacific postgraduate student in sociology, Lovelyn Laurelle Giva-Tuke.

She advocates a holistic approach encompassing financial assistance, specific legislation to address violence against women in political contexts; capacity-building programs to equip women with leadership, campaigning, and public speaking skills; and measures to ensure fair and equitable media coverage, rather than stereotyped and discriminatory coverage.

Giva-Tuke emphasised that society as a whole stand to benefit from a gender balanced political establishment. This was also highlighted by Kamikamica in his address. He cited research showing that women leaders tended to prioritise healthcare, education, and social welfare.

While there is no disagreement about the problem, and the needs to address it, Giva-Tuke, like Radrodro, believes that discussions and ideas must translate into action.

“As a nation, we can and must do more to create an inclusive political landscape that values women’s contributions at every level,” she said.

Protection another hurdle
For Radrodro, one of the most urgent and unaddressed problems is the targeting of women with harmful social media content, which is rampant and unchecked in Fiji.

“There is a very high level of attacks against women on social media even from women against other women. These raises reservations in potential women candidates who now have another hurdle to cross.”

Radrodro said a lot of women were simply terrified of being abused online and having their lives splashed across social media, which was also harmful for their children and families.

She said it was disheartening to see the lack of consistent support from leaders when women politicians faced personal attacks.

She called for stronger policies and enforcement to curb online harassment, urging national leaders to take a stand against such behavior.

Another female rights campaigner, the Fiji Women’s Rights Movement executive director Nalini Singh, called for stronger and more effective collaboration between stakeholders — communal groups, women’s groups, local government departments, political parties and the Fijian Elections Office.

Singh highlighted the need for a major educational campaign to change the mindsets with gender sensitisation programs targeting communities. She also recommended increased civic education and awareness of government structures and electoral systems.

Temporary law changes
While she supported reserved parliamentary seats for women, Singh said temporary changes in laws or regulations to eliminate systemic barriers and promote gender equality were also needed.

Singh also highlighted the importance of bridging the generational gaps between older women who have worked in local government, and young women with an interest in joining the political space by establishment of mentoring programmes.

She said mandating specific changes or participation levels within a defined timeframe and advocacy and awareness campaigns targeted at changing societal attitudes and promoting the inclusion of underrepresented groups were other options.

“These are just some ways or strategies to help increase representation of women in leadership spaces, especially their participation in politics,” said Singh.

The views of women such as Sainiana Radrodro, Lovelyn Laurelle Giva-Tuke and Nalini Singh indicate not just what needs to be done to address this problem, but also how little has actually been done.

On his part, Kamikamica has said all the right things, demonstrating a good understanding of the weaknesses in the system. What is lacking is the application of these ideas and sentiments in a real and practical sense.

Unless this is done, the ideas will remain just that — ideas.

Monika Singh is a teaching assistant with The University of the South Pacific’s Journalism Programme and the supervising editor of the student newspaper Wansolwara. This article is first published by The Fiji Times and is republished here as part of a collaboration between USP Journalism and Asia Pacific Report.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Marshall Islands President Dr Hilda Heine said gender could not be addressed in isolation.

“We must think also of how it intersects with our other challenges and opportunities and develop our policies and approaches with gender equality in mind,” Heine said at the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women in Majuro this week.

“Our gender equality journey calls on Pacific leadership to be intentional, innovative and bold in our responses to the gaps that we see in our efforts.

“We must take risks, create new partnerships, and be unwavering in our commitment to bring about substantive gender equality for the region.”

The triennial is the latest in a series which was first proposed in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, in 1974. Representatives from governments throughout the region are represented at the event which is followed by a meeting of Pacific ministers for women.

“We have come a long way in terms of advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women in the Pacific,” Heine said.

Forces that shape women
“Almost 50 years ago in 1975, 80 women from across the Pacific convened in Suva to talk about forces that shape women in society. ”

The initial meeting of 80 women identified family, culture and traditions, religion, education, media, law and politics as thematic areas which deserved attention and discussion.

Heine challenged Pacific women to extend their role as mothers who nurture and weave society towards nation building.

“A mother helps to nurture and weaves the society, therefore building a nation. That is our role. That is what we do. It is in our DNA,” Heine said.

“Current women leaders stand on the shoulders of those women who came before us, many had no clue about the PPA or what feminism is all about; yet their roles called for them to be involved and to push the boundaries; similarly, it is the responsibility of current women leaders to nurture and to mentor the next generation of women leaders, the leaders of tomorrow.”

Engage men and boys
A study across 31 countries has found that 60 percent of males aged 16-24 years believe that women’s equality discriminates against men.

“This finding is troubling and while the study did not include countries in the Pacific, it is important we take note of it and continue to look at ways to better engage men and boys in gender equality efforts in our part of the world,” Pacific Community’s Miles Young said.

Young said men and boys must be involved on a journey of understanding that gender equality benefited everyone.

“Noting the continuing relatively low representation of women across our national parliaments and at the highest levels of decision-making in the private sector, there may be an opportunity this week to discuss revitalising the conversation around affirmative action — or what some term temporary special measures,” he said.

He noted the presence of Tuvalu Prime Minister, Feleti Teo, Marshallese Women’s Minister, Jess Gasper, and United Nations Women Senior Adviser, Asger Rhyl, and “the many other men who are committed to gender equality”.

“There may be an opportunity for discussions around how to more effectively engage men and boys in progressing gender equality,” Young said.

Women make up 8.8 percent of parliamentarians (54 MPs) in the Pacific, up from 4.7 per cent (26 MPs) in 2013.

Young said the Pacific Community stood ready to collaborate with women representatives and development partners to support decisions and the outcomes of the meeting.

“This commitment reflects the highest priority which SPC attaches to supporting gender equality in the region.”

Netani Rika is an award-winning Fiji journalist with 30 years of experience in Pacific regional writing. The joint owner of Islands Business magazine he is communications manager of the Pacific Conference of Churches and is in Majuro, Marshall Islands, covering the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

SPECIAL REPORT: By Netani Rika in Majuro

A united effort will ensure a world in which every woman and girl is valued, respected, and given the opportunity to thrive.

Envoy for Women, Children and Youth to Marshallese President, Hilda Heine, Senator Daisy Alik-Momotaro, said the most pressing issues for women and children were health, education, climate change and economic stability.

Momotaro made the comments at the opening of the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women. The conference precedes the 8th Meeting of Pacific Ministers for Women.

“Each of you, like individual droplets, contributes to the vast and powerful ocean of change and progress,” Alik-Momotaro said.

“Together, we are capable of creating waves that can transform our world.

“The theme for this year’s 15th Triennial Conference is An Pilinlin Koba Ekaman Lometo, which translates to “a collection of droplets, makes an ocean,” captures the power of collective effort.

Alik-Momotaro noted that the Marshall Islands was a matrilineal society in which women held sacred and indispensable.

Nurturers for well-being
“We are the Kora in Eoeo, the nurturers who ensure the well-being and growth of our families and communities,” she told delegates to the triennial.

“We are the Lejmaanjuri, the peacemakers who resolve conflicts with wisdom and grace.

“As Jined ilo Kobo, we are the protectors who safeguard our heritage and values.”

The Marshallese culture of Aelon Kein ej an Kora, embraces women as owners of the land who hold a spiritual role as providers and preservers of culture, tradition and philosophy.

“These roles are not mere responsibilities; they are the essence of our identity and the pillars of our society,” she said.

Alik-Momotaro recognised the presence of men and boys at the opening ceremony.

She said this underscored the importance of inclusivity and partnership in efforts to advance the wellbeing of women and communities.

Mutual respect, collaboration
“Together, we can foster an environment where mutual respect and collaboration pave the way for a better future,” she said.

“Let us remember that our shared experiences and collective voices are our greatest strengths. We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us, and it is our duty to pave the way for the generations that follow.”

The triennial has received support from traditional leaders on Majuro and throughout the Marshall Islands.

Marshallese women have travelled from throughout the islands to take part in the conference.

Netani Rika is an award-winning Fiji journalist with 30 years of experience in Pacific regional writing. The joint owner of Islands Business magazine he is communications manager of the Pacific Conference of Churches and is in Majuro, Marshall Islands, covering the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Fiji’s Women and Children’s Minister Lynda Tabuya says Pacific island countries need to “strengthen our laws” on online harassment.

Tabuya spoke to RNZ Pacific on the sidelines of the Pacific Women in Power forum taking place in Auckland this week.

She said the issue that she was dealing with — which is allegations of a sex and drug scandal between her and former cabinet minister Aseri Radrodro — was currently with the police.

“[Police] are investigating it,” she said.

“And it just so happens that a person who was causing this harassment online lives in Sydney,” she said.

She said she was able to get the assistance of Australia’s online safety watchdog to issue the notice to the person to take down the content — images — because it is a crime in Australia.

“If you put up content that is or appears to be the person, so then the person [who published it] needs to take the content down otherwise they can face prosecution,” she said.

‘Grateful for swift action’
“That was the process I followed and I’m grateful to the Safety Commissioner of Australia for the swift action.”

However, she said the situation she found herself in was not exclusive to her.

“It’s me today, it could be someone else tomorrow. It doesn’t have to be a minister or public figure.

“But if you have women in Fiji or across the Pacific who are facing this, and they’re being attacked — especially for populations where there are more people outside of the country than in [the] country.

Tabuya said therefore there was a need for strong policies, not just in Fiji, but across the region.

“You get more attacks from people who live overseas. Women MPs need to reach out to those countries where those people are attacking them live because the laws are much stronger.

“But it’s also a lesson for us within to strengthen our laws so that we can stand up against online bullying.

“The world is unfair and being a woman in politics, we face a lot of unfairness and injustices. But I think it also makes us so much more determined to stand up and be heard,” she added.

Meanwhile, Tabuya is currently the subject of an inquiry by her political party following the sex and drug allegation, the outcome of which has yet to be released.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz