Women get crash course on politics

FOUR Papua New Guineans were among 20 women leaders from the Asia-Pacific who attended a women-in-politics training at the Australian National University in Canberra, ACT, last Thursday.
Joyce Grant, Maya Peipul, Jennifer Baing and Eileen Tugum attended the course on women’s participation in politics sponsored by the Centre for Democratic Institutions (CDI) through funding from AusAID.
The women visited the Australian parliament building and attended question time in the house of representatives and the house of senate.
They also met with Australian women members of parliament Kate Ellis, minister for the status of women senator Marise Payne and former deputy speaker Anna Burke, who shared their experiences on election campaigns and their lives as politicians.
The Papua New Guineans were inspired by the diversity among the women MPs and their professionalism and success in a male-dominated parliament and encouraged by their willingness to network and support efforts to improve women’s representation in political leadership in their own countries. 
The training was an educational programme conducted by CDI aimed at providing skills and knowledge required to effectively campaign and live as politicians.