Kakas urges women to be careful with words

By SHIRLYN BELDEN 
NATIONAL Council of Women president Scholla Kakas is calling on women’s leaders to be careful when making public statements on the Equality and Participation Bill.
Kakas was responding to a claim by Women in Politics president Maria Hayes in the media about women leaders using opposition leader Dame Carol Kidu to attack the government.
“Hayes’ claims that women leaders were taking advantage of Dame Carol’s new status as opposition leader to blast the government is baseless and sadly typical of her attitude that discourages younger women from participating and contributing positively to the development of women in Papua New Guinea,” Kakas told reporters yesterday. 
Kakas said Hayes’ reasons for lashing out like that were unknown but that kind of behaviour was uncalled for, especially at a time when they were pushing a national issue that would affect all women and girls in the country.
Attempts to get comments from Hayes yesterday were unsuccessful. 
According to a newspaper report, Hayes was disappointed that women leaders were using Dame Carol to lash out at the government and to “jump from one side to the other with no focus”.
It is not known what Hayes was referring to and what prompted her to criticise her women colleagues.
She said Women in Politics fell under the National Council of Women and assured Hayes the council was working closely with all parties to rectify the Act.
She said she regretted that Hayes “is not trying to be part of the process”.
Kakas said the council would host a meeting with all provincial women’s leaders to let them air their concerns and promote unity among women.
“The NCW is looking at calling a special urgent meeting to look at this issue and the matters pertaining to the 2012 National Elections,” she said.