28 Aug 2018

Still a need for reserve seats for women in PNG

From , 3:04 pm on 28 August 2018

A candidate in last year's Papua New Guinea general election says there is still a need for reserved parliament seats for women.

Legislation to create 22 reserved seats for women in addition to parliament's current 111 seats failed to be passed six years ago.

Since then, the number of women MPs in PNG has gone from three to zero.

Esther Igo was one of 167 females, or five percent of total candidates, who stood unsucessfully for parliament last year.

Ms Igo, who is a representative of the Women Arise NGO, spoke to Johnny Blades.

Esther Igo of Papua new Guinea NGO Women Arise.

Esther Igo of Papua new Guinea NGO Women Arise. Photo: RNZ / Koroi Hawkins