3 Sep 2012

Community broadcaster gives Fiji women voice

12:34 pm on 3 September 2012

A rural broadcasting campaign is underway in Fiji aiming at giving women a louder voice as the constitutional commission continues its work.

Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls from FemLINK PACIFIC says women in outer communities are sick of hearing the empty promises of politicians, which has given rise to the Not Just Sweet Talk Campaign.

Ms Bhagwan-Rolls says they have created a space, through radio and now television broadcasts, where women can voice their concerns and challenge the traditional mores that keep them out of leadership roles at the local government and village levels.

Her aim is to achieve fifty per cent representation of women in the country and says there is a focus on the youth, who are responding positively to the media events.

"Women are starting to talk about what do they want as far as the Fiji of the future, so the Not Just Sweet Talk campaign builds on that. It will be an opportunity to also provide women with a national media platform, and this time with the campaign we thought it would be fabulous and as we've been able to do in Labasa this week, is put the rural women leaders on television."