Free seats not good for women

THE subject regarding women and their reserved parliamentary seats in the Melanesian context is a non-issue and must never be raised again in Papua New Guinea.
We as a nation have accepted the Westminster type of government from Australia and Great Britain.
In that type of government, representatives are elected rather than appointed to represent political boundaries and people.
Each and every seat in all levels of government – whether national, provincial or local community – must strictly be left to elected representatives rather than freely handed out.
In a recent meeting of 28 women leaders from a particular district of a certain province organised by an NGO, women appointed as
women’s representatives to the LLGs/DDA expressed disappointments with the lack of recognition given to them by the male councillors.
Project submissions and project funding was never made available to women representatives because male councillors felt that they had gone through an election to
gain those projects and accompanying funds while the women did not sweat for the seats they were filling.
Parliament will see women get the same treatment.
Consideration should now be made for a separate House of ‘appointed representatives’ for women, youth, churches, NGOs, public service and trade unions.
Let parliamentary seats be elected rather than appointed, otherwise, leave this topic for reconsideration in the next 300 years.
For now, PNG is making good progress with women becoming doctors, lawyers, engineers, and pilots – not bad compared to countries with 300 years of independence from colonial rule.
Why kick up the dust when this is a non-issue to address? Or are we trying to make the foreign consultant happy?

Pohowa Puru