Namatanai women leaders remain ‘silent’

DETERIORATING state of basic services in Namatanai district, New Ireland, has been attributed to the lack of women’s voice in governance.
Namatanai council of women president Jane Kesno said the 103 women leaders of the district had criticised the effectiveness of current leadership in their local level governments.
Kesno said the women leaders expressed their grievances during a leadership training programme from Oct 4-8 which focused on good governance and gender equality.
She said reports from the women leaders of the district’s five LLGs identified that they were disregarded by their male counterparts.
“Eighty per cent of the women leaders reported that most LLG presidents and their male ward members appear ignorant and did not seem to understand that appointed ward women members had the same voting rights as the male
ward leaders which means we have the right to attend meetings and be involved in the design
of our ward development plans,” Kesno said.
She also said the women leaders were concerned that they had not sighted their ward development plans and did not know the process of securing budget for community improvement programmes in their wards.
“The training was timely and encouraging and  challenged the women to assume responsibility for their lack of involvement in decision making as leaders and to take active role in planning and securing commitments for improvements to basic services in the district,” Kesno said.
The women leaders, meanwhile, have resolved to strengthen women’s voice in governance by way of establishing a women’s council network.
“This we hope will promote good governance and provide an effective delivery service system which the government could use to improve the livelihood of the people,” she said.