By Selita Bolanavanua
Female participation in local elections has escaped scrutiny, says Dr Shailendra Singh, Head of Journalism at the University of the South Pacific (USP) in Fiji.
He made this statement last week at a panel discussion on increasing female participation in local government elections in Fiji, organised by Dialogue Fiji.
Although local elections have not been held in recent years, Dr Singh recalled that they have historically been male-dominated.
“This monopoly needs to be broken. I see local elections as a springboard for national elections,” he said.
He added that achieving some level of equilibrium in local elections was crucial; without it, balancing national elections would be challenging, if not impossible.
Dr Singh believes Fiji should view local elections as a vital stepping stone and give them the priority they deserve.
“We have been discussing increasing female participation in politics for a while, but without a clear or coherent strategy, female representation alone is insufficient,” he added.
Sustainability and quality of participation are also important. He said local elections served as a training ground that could better prepare female candidates for national elections and Parliament.
He argued that women deserved more than tokenism, highlighting that the quality of performance matters, not just participation.
Dr Singh also pointed out the role of media in this context. Research indicates that media can sometimes act as a barrier to female participation in politics.
However, Dr Singh said when we talking about breaking barriers, excluding media would be a big mistake, not to mention a major missed opportunity.
“Let’s harness the media’s potential. Always keep the news media in mind when working on such projects,” Dr Singh advised.
