11 Aug 2011

Kiribati Speaker strong advocate for more women in Parliament

7:17 pm on 11 August 2011

Women from all over Kiribati are being encouraged to run for the up-coming national elections - for which a date is yet to be announced.

Thirty women from Tarawa and the outer islands have taken part in parliamentary training and mock-parliament sessions, with the aim of getting more women to enter politics.

The Speaker of Parliament Taomati Iuta says there is a need for more women MPs but they must believe in their potential.

"It is important that women come in. And as we have seen it in the mock parliament that the women are doing much, much better than some of the male politicians that I have seen in the present parliament. Their way of debating, their way of researching into facts and how they put their views across amazed me. And I was very, very impressed with their performance."

Taomati Iuta says women can bring a calming effect in parliament as they can be less argumentative and less confrontational than men.

The training and mock-parliament were supported by the Pacific Islands Forum and the UNDP.