International Women’s day is celebrated on the 8th of March globally. With the theme ‘Press for progress, the PNG Judicial Women’s Association gathered to celebrate the day, with women from the law and Justice Sector.
Keynote speaker, Dame Meg Taylor said there is a huge gap in women’s role in Governance, Legislature and Leadership, not only in PNG but the Pacific.
As the first woman laywer in Papua New Guinea and the first woman to hold the position of the Secretary General to the Pacific Island Forum, Taylor said gender equality and women’s representation in Legislature is low in the Pacific.
She is disappointed that there is no women representative in parliament despite the fact that women make up about 50 percent of PNG’s population.
However, Taylor added there is a way forward. She also encouraged women from both the private and the public sectors to continue to press for progress.
She said the best way to empower each other is to be educated, have a form of income and to advocate on gender equality.
In her keynote speech, she touched on violence against women, an issue for the Pacific as a whole. She noted that 8 out of 10 women don’t have or cannot access law and justice services.
Dame Meg ended her speech by urging today’s participants to tell their daughters and sons to work towards a “PAPUA NEW GUINEA, were the rule of law protects all and that PNG finds the balance where women are part of decision making at the highest level.
