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The Prime Minister of Samoa, the Hon Fiame Naomi Mata\u2019afa, and the Commonwealth Secretary-General, the Rt Hon Patricia Scotland KC, have called for stronger efforts to address the gender imbalance in leadership.<\/p>\n
Both leaders noted that despite progress, women in positions of power remain rare.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Hon Fiame Naomi Mata\u2019afa was speaking on the theme \u2018Women\u2019s Leadership in the Commonwealth\u2019 alongside the Secretary-General at a special edition of the Marlborough House Dialogues in London on 14 March 2023.<\/p>\n
Addressing an audience of Commonwealth ministers, foreign ministers, high commissioners, civil society delegates, and journalists, Prime Minister Mata\u2019afa<\/strong>\u00a0said:<\/p>\n \u201cOnly seven per cent of the world\u2019s elected heads of government are women \u2026 To change this, women\u2019s representation in the parliament needs to reach 50 per cent. This requires challenging the cultural impediments and social conditioning to create a more supportive environment for women to participate in politics.\u201d<\/p>\n She continued: \u201cDoing so is important because there is a direct correlation between the level of women\u2019s representation in leadership and the level of national development.\u201d<\/p>\n Drawing on her experience, the Samoan Prime Minister encouraged aspiring leaders to be self-aware and to understand their environment, adding that these two factors are essential to bringing about positive change. She further urged everyone to take full advantage of their constitutional rights and the opportunities offered to them.<\/p>\n The Prime Minister also spoke about Samoa\u2019s unique social structures, including women\u2019s committees, that enable women to lead on policy initiatives, including climate action, in their homes and villages.<\/p>\n However, with six out of 52 parliament seats held by women in Samoa, she noted that challenges remain in ensuring women\u2019s perspectives inform decision-making on climate change at the national level.<\/p>\n In her opening remarks, the Secretary-General recognised the Prime Minister as one of the few\u00a0women working at the highest level of political leadership, highlighting her achievements in breaking down barriers in politics.<\/p>\n She also acknowledged the remarkable progress made in Rwanda, the current Commonwealth Chair-In-Office, which, at 61 per cent, has the highest proportion of women members of parliament in the world.<\/p>\n Secretary-General Scotland further underscored that increased women\u2019s participation in leadership leads to policymaking that promotes quality of life, a more participatory democracy, a stronger push for getting rid of unjust laws, and greater action on social issues, such as gender-based violence.<\/p>\n Noting the significant under-representation of women in decision-making roles, the Secretary-General said the fact that women make up more than half of the world\u2019s population should be enough to compel us to ensure equality in leadership.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a question of justice and fairness, but it is about much more than the law of averages: it is about impact,\u201d she told the attendees at the Commonwealth Secretariat\u2019s headquarters.<\/p>\n Speaking about the climate crisis, the Commonwealth Secretary-General commended the Samoan Prime Minister\u2019s leadership in mobilising greater climate action and international support for small island states.<\/p>\n \u201cThe intensifying impacts of climate change disproportionately affect women and girls,\u201d she added while stressing that the most effective way to address this crisis is through inclusion.<\/p>\n Secretary-General Scotland continued:<\/p>\n \u201cThis means ensuring more women are making decisions, not simply influencing policy and politics, but shaping it. If we can achieve this, we have a chance truly build back better.\u201d<\/p>\n Both leaders agreed that women\u2019s leadership is a necessity to achieve a sustainable and equitable future for all and encouraged countries to make full use of successful strategies, such as legally enforced quotas and appointments, to boost women\u2019s representation in political leadership.<\/p>\n The in-person dialogue was moderated by Rwanda\u2019s High Commissioner to the UK, H.E. Johnston Busingye, and took place following International Women\u2019s Day and Commonwealth Day, both of which were observed in March.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Prime Minister of Samoa, the Hon Fiame Naomi Mata\u2019afa, and the Commonwealth Secretary-General, the Rt Hon Patricia Scotland KC, have called for stronger efforts to address the gender imbalance in leadership. Both leaders noted that despite progress, women in…","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":300329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[286,77,235,6,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-300328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-governance","category-homepage","category-homepage-carousel","category-international-news","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n