That leaves women in Papua New Guinea to challenge their
male counterparts in this election. In this year’s election a number of women
have taken the call to prove their worth just as the male folks.
A good number of women are contesting this election against
men. Some of these women are contesting as Independent candidates. Others are
supported by the political parties. Two woman lead political parties as party
leaders. Some of these women have contested in previous elections. Others have
just raised their hands to be noticed.
I hope that the results for women in this year’s National Elections
will change the political history of this country. Having more women in Parliament will shift the
political culture to another level. It is difficult to see any shift without
including our women folks in the Parliament.
Women should be given the opportunity to lead through our votes.
Consider the information on women in parliament presented in
Eric Johns’ History Through Stories: Book
Two (2006): “Only one Papua New
Guinean woman, Ana Frank Gaudi, with two
Australian woman, stood for the first House of Assembly elections in 1964, and
only an Australian woman stood for the second House of Assembly elections in
1968. No women were successful in either elections. Josephine Abaijah was the
first women elected to the national parliament, in 1972. When Abaijah, Nahau
Rooney, and Waliyato Clowes were successful in 1977, it seemed that a breakthrough
had been made for women. However, in
1982, only Rooney was re-elected and no women were successful in the elections
of 1987 and 1992. In 1997, Abaijah was returned, along with Carol Kidu, but in
2002 Kidu was the only woman elected.”
Dame Lady Carol Kidu was re-elected in 2007 until the end of
this Parliamentary term. Dame Lady Carol Kidu has retired from active politics
to pursue other interests. If no women are elected to parliament in 2012 then parliament
will have no women representation, leaning towards a male only parliament.
Over the years the number of women contesting the elections had increased, but the results were against the women folks. In 1972 four women contested, but only one woman (Josephine Abaijah) was elected. Of the ten women who contested in 1977 only three women (Josephine Abaijah, Nahau Rooney, Waliyato Clowes) were elected. For the 1982 election, only one (Nahau Rooney) of the 17 women who contested was elected. It seems to have gained more interests around 1987 when 18 women contested, but no one was elected. The same result was produced in 1992 when 17 women contested the national elections.
With this statistical analysis I am ambivalent about the
results in this election. The change in mindset and will to change political
culture is needed before any women can be elected into parliament. I also think
that women candidates contesting this election needed more than popularity to
win. It seems some candidates are contesting in big ponds while others in small
ponds where chances are good. Nonetheless their fates lie in the voter
psychology and desire for change.
It can never be argued that candiates who stood before can
never win. The cases of Abaijah, Rooney, and Kidu have proven that voters are
intelligent enough to want the best person for a leader.
Or it can never be argued that Papua New Guineans are
unwilling to change their often too male concentric perspective of women
leaders. There is a change, but at a snail’s pace, we observe.
Eric Johns asked the question that begs to be answered: “Why
have so few women been elected? Although conditions are not the same throughout
the country, the majority of Papua New Guineans still believe that women should
not be leaders or make important decisions because that is the work of men.
Many women who have achieved success in the public service, private enterprise,
universities and other fields, have come into contact with family or community
members who believe that women’s work is the home. There is even more criticism
of women who wish to enter the national parliament. Unless these attitudes
change, women will continue to find it almost impossible to be elected, thus
excluding half of the country’s population from having any say in important
decisions that affect everyone.”
Many of us will agree that the women who were elected or
nominated to parliament were examplary leaders. Some of them have written their
autobiographies that Papua New Guineans have benefited from reading about what
makes a great leader. In her
autobiography Listen My Country (1981)
we learned Dame Alice Wadega was the first PNG woman knight (1982) to be
appointed to the Legislative Council (1961). In Dame Josephine Abaijah’s
autobiography A Thousand Coloured Dreams
(1981) we learnt that she founded the political party Papua Besena (Hands off
Papua), and from Dame Lady Carol Kidu’s we learnt of her courage to marry a
young Papua New Guinea lawyer, and making the incredible journey to the land of
the unexpected, where she became a political leader and examplary Pacific
leader in her own right.
Someone who had formed her own political party was Waliyo
Clowes known as Panal (Papuan Alliances) when she was elected to Parliament in
1977. Clowes was quoted as saying: “A lot of men think we are rubbish and take
no notice of us.”
Let’s vote for women for a change.
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