Public Perceptions of Women in Leadership- A research project of the Fiji Women's Forum, in partnership with International Women's Development Agency (IWDA)

Dumaru, Patrina and Pene, Sarah (2014) Public Perceptions of Women in Leadership- A research project of the Fiji Women's Forum, in partnership with International Women's Development Agency (IWDA). [Professional and Technical Reports]

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Abstract

The Fiji Women’s Forum was convened in 2012 by the Fiji Women’s Rights Movement, femLINKpacific, the National Council of Women and the Soqosoqo Vakamarama iTaukei. The objective of the Fiji Women’s Forum is to give women’s
organisations space to collectively develop strategies to increase the number of women elected to parliament upon a return to democratic rule.

This study was commissioned under the Funding
Leadership Opportunities for Women (FLOW)
programme, a four year multi-country programme funded
by the Government of the Netherlands, coordinated in
the Pacific by the International Women’s Development
Agency (IWDA), and implemented in Fiji in partnership
with the Fiji Women’s Forum, Fiji Women’s Rights
Movement (FWRM), femLINKpacific, and Commonwealth
Local Government Forum Pacific. Its purpose was to
provide the Fiji Women’s Forum with information on
public perceptions of leadership and women in political
leadership, in order to guide and inform the Women’s
Forum and constituent organisations regarding directions
for voter education and advocacy for greater female
representation in politics.

The study comprised a survey questionnaire administered
to 1211 men and women in rural and urban areas in Viti
Levu and Vanua Levu, 25 focus group discussions (with a
total of 187 participants) and 8 key informant interviews.
This was the first study in Fiji to explore community views
about women in politics and leadership more generally.
The findings provide a snapshot of attitudes and
perspectives prior to the September 2014 election. Some
significant findings of the study include:
• 81% of respondents agree that women are underrepresented in Fiji, and 72% think it would be better
for the country if there were more women in national
government.
• Being hardworking, honest and intelligent were
the three traits most frequently assessed as being
absolutely essentially in a political leader. Over two
thirds of respondents stated that these traits are
equally true of men and women.
• The vast majority of respondents deemed fluency in
English (96%) and a university education (89%) to be
very important or absolutely essential in a political
leader.
• The majority of respondents identified cultural
barriers (60%), discrimination (59%) and a lack of
support at community level (53%) as the major
reasons why fewer women than men stand for
elections, rather than a lack of education (15%) or
experience (19%).
• 77% of respondents would not be influenced by
a candidate’s sex when casting their vote. 17% of
women would prefer to vote for a woman.
• 67% of respondents deem it likely or extremely likely
that Fiji will have a female Prime Minister within the
next ten years, and 65% said they would like to see
that happen.

The results of the study can be encapsulated in three key
statements:
1. The majority of people in Fiji feel that women are
under-represented in government and that changing
this would be beneficial to the nation as a whole.
2. People recognise that the qualifications and attributes
of leadership are not unique to men, but are common
to both men and women.
3. Conservative viewpoints that favour male leadership
are a small but significant minority in certain
demographics; the strongest support for female
leadership is to be found amongst women and young
people.

This research on perceptions of leadership generally
and women’s leadership in particular provides important
information about current attitudes, how these vary across the population in Fiji, and where change is happening.

This will be valuable information to inform future action
to support increased representation of women in politics
and a baseline against which the success of such efforts
can be assessed.

The study draws attention to the gender bias that lies
at the heart of why women are under-represented in
government and the necessity for definitive action to
support women’s political participation in order to better reflect the public’s desire for more gender balanced political representation.

Item Type:	Professional and Technical Reports
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Divisions:	Faculty of Science, Technology and Environment (FSTE) > Institute of Applied Science
Depositing User:	Fulori Nainoca - Waqairagata
Date Deposited:	16 Apr 2019 03:22
Last Modified:	16 Apr 2019 03:22
URI:	https://repository.usp.ac.fj/id/eprint/11491

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