IEC blitz from FWRM

IEC blitz from FWRM

Greetings from the Fiji Women’s Rights Movemnt!

It’s an Information, Education and Communication (IEC) blitz at the Fiji Women’s Rights Movement as we bring to you some of the IEC materials we have been working on for the last several months in the lead-up to Fiji’s democratisation process.

1. TVC: "Support TSM's. It's about time we balanced the scales"!
In effort to 'balance the power'in Fiji, the Fiji Women's Rights Movement is promoting women's political participation through Temporary Special Measures (TSMs).

We have developed a television Public Service Announcement (PSA) which explains what TSMs actually are and the why they are urgently needed to fast-track gender equality in Fiji, where women are still lagging behind in political life due to institutionalized patriarchal structures.

This PSA will officially hit the airways on Monday December 17, 2012 and run for around two months on Fiji Television around the 6pm newsbreaks.

You can view it here: http://youtu.be/i2WUxePq1PY

(Supported by AusAID)

2. Publication: Balancing the Power: Promoting Women’s Political Participation in Fiji Through TSM’s
The Fiji Women’s Forum (FWF) in its inaugural meeting in April 2012 identified four key priority areas that are of concern for women. One of these key priority areas was the promotion of women’s participation in decision making and democratization processes. The FWF agreed that the current democratization process needed to integrate the need for representation of women at all levels. In addition, any new or reformed Constitution must integrate Temporary Special Measures to promote 50% women’s political participation at national and local government levels. Further the FWF also recognized the need to include women in decision making roles within the communities as well.

This paper examines Temporary Special Measures and the different options that can be used to ensure women’s political participation. In addition it will also highlight best practices in countries that have successfully adopted these different options.

Click here to read the full policy paper by the Fiji Women’s Forum, published November 2012: http://www.fwrm.org.fj/index.php/publication/women-in-politics/282-balancing-the-power-through-tsms

3. Publication: Gender and the Constituent Assembly - Promoting Women’s Political Participation in Fiji
In the current constitution making context, the Constituent Assembly is an entity being formed with the purpose and intent of adopting and legitimising the constitution. The experiences of other countries have shown that constituent assembly membership, functioning, procedures, and decision-making often lack a gender perspective. Some countries have used quota arrangements to ensure the representation of women, but in general gender perspectives are not adequately taken into consideration resulting in procedures and decision-making that marginalise women’s participation and contribution.

It is not only important that the membership of the constituent assembly is gender balanced but that the procedures and processes adopted are responsive to the realities of women and men.

Click here to read the full policy paper by the Fiji Women’s Rights Movement, published November 2012: http://www.fwrm.org.fj/index.php/publication/women-in-politics/283-gender-and-the-ca

4. Publication: Herstory
Herstory – celebrating 25 years of balancing the scales...

... is a chronicle of the Fiji Women’s Right’s Movement’s quarter century herstory. The publication funded thanks to AusAid, began a year ago with the assistance of Ricardo Morris compiling and documenting the stories that made us cry, laugh, celebrate and reflect as a feminist movement.

While it was impossible to capture everything the Movement has undertaken in the last 25 years, the publication captures all the significant moments, which include our humble beginnings in 1986 after a need was identified by our sister organisation, the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre and some members of the Young Women’s Christian Association to establish a lobbying group reforming laws that discriminated against women and girls.

Another significant moment captured is how FWRM has and continues to maintain a strong stance on human rights, the rule of law and democracy during all the coups despite being persecuted by the military.

FWRM Herstory was officially launched on Women Human Rights Defenders' Day on November 29th, 2012 by FWRM Vice-Board Chair Priscilla Singh.

You are read the full publication here: http://www.fwrm.org.fj/index.php/about-us/herstory

5. Newsletter: Balance: Constitution Special
Our latest Balance is out and it’s a Constitution Special!

Find out about FWRM's civic education training, monitoring and the Movement’s own constitution recommendations, during this crucial period in our country's herstory.

And as usual there are other interesting stories from our feminist desk.

We look forward to any comments/feedback you might have.

Read all the stories here: http://www.fwrm.org.fj/content/balance/balanceoct2012.pdf

Website : www.fwrm.org.fj
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The Fiji Women’s Rights Movement is a multiethnic and multicultural non-governmental organisation committed to removing discrimination against women through institutional reforms and attitudinal changes. Our vision is for the women of Fiji to be free from all forms of discrimination, have equal access to opportunities and to live in a healthy environment where the principles of feminism, democracy, good governance, multiculturalism and human rights prevail. This transmission is intended only for the use of the addressee. If you are not the intended recipient, PLEASE NOTE any use or dissemination of this communication is prohibited and no confidentiality rights or privilege are hereby waived. If you have received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately by telephone at our cost and destroy and/or delete all hard and soft copy data relating to this transmission. The contents of this email, unless expressly stated, do not comprise the views of, or any representation by, the Fiji Women's Rights Movement. FWRM has active anti-virus measures on its electronic mail system but cannot accept any liability for virus damage suffered by any recipient as a result of this or any transmission to that recipient.

ENDS

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