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R.K. Chand: Address to Peace Summit 2023, Session IV-C
Written by Dr. Rajni Kaushal Chand, Spouse of the Deputy Prime Minister, Fiji
Wednesday, May 3, 2023
Address to Peace Summit 2023
May 2-5, 2023
With most of the countries in the world having a female population between 49 and 51%, there is a need to look at the importance of women in Peacebuilding, National Development, and Universal Peace.
Women everywhere play a vital role as caretakers of families, communities and the nation they belong to. They additionally are symbols of peace, display characteristics of being peacekeepers, and are advocates for peace even in war-torn areas and climatically challenged countries. They are thus holistically designers, engineers and instruments of peace in all senses of the word.
My presentation today will focus on women leaders and their roles as builders of a culture of peace in the Pacific Island country of Fiji.
According to the World Bank report (2022), most of the populations of the Pacific Island countries (PICs) have an average of 48-51% female. Fiji, one of the PICs, shares a similar population ratio.
A former British colony, Fiji is made up of more than 300 islands. It is one of the most developed economies among the South Pacific countries. It hosts an international airport that is a common transit for many destinations in the Pacific. A little over 100 of these islands are inhabited. Around 87% of the total population stay in the two larger islands of the group. Lying in the South Pacific Ocean with Australia and New Zealand as its close neighbors, it is heavily dependent on tourism as its main source of income. It is the smiling faces of the people, the laid-back, relaxed atmosphere, the greenery, white sandy beaches, clear blue skies, and pristine clean waters that attract most people to the country. Fiji is a multicultural country with close to a million in population, compromised of 56.8% indigenous Fijians, 37.5% Indo-Fijians, 1.2 % Rotumans and 4.5% others. 64.4% of the population practice Christianity, 27.9% Hinduism, 6.3% Islam and 1.4% other religions. No pictures of Fiji people are without their signature smile and happy faces. That is a symbol of peace. According to a survey by the organization WIN/Gallup, citizens of Fiji are currently the most content in the world.
The literacy rate of women in Fiji is relatively high, and equal to men, at above 99%. Recently, female attendance at a tertiary level has surpassed males by around 5%. However, only 34% of the labor force is comprised of women, while 73% are in unpaid household work. In all sectors, private and public, there are still more men than women employed. Women’s traditional roles as homemakers persist and in areas where they exist, women in Fiji are making their presence felt.
Where Peace Building and holding leadership roles in the process of peace are concerned, women in Fiji hold leadership roles in the NGO sector. It is a known fact that NGOs play a very important role in peacebuilding, whether it is in conflict prevention, conflict management, conflict resolution and transformation or even post-conflict resolution.
Fiji, a peace-loving nation, has not experienced an extreme form of conflict. Fiji has experienced multiple coups since 1987; however, in comparison, none of these coups have shown the extreme autocracies that other nations that have gone through political crises or coups have experienced. Women, during all these political turmoils, have played vital roles in resetting the course of national building after each of the coups in Fiji.
Women leaders, especially those in the NGO sector in Fiji, have been instrumental in demanding democracy after each of the coups by peaceful means. Some of these activities are outlined below.
After the political coups of 1987, a group of women activists (including the then Director of Energy, Dr. Suliana Siwatibau) began collecting signatures for a petition requesting for a return of parliamentary government. The peaceful movement had more than 100,000 people signing the petition. This eventually led to reformation and a democratically elected government.
Other women activists include:
- Imrana Jalal, on the current World Bank Inspection Panel;
- Shamima Ali, coordinator of Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre;
- Shireen Lateef, a gender-specialist at ADB;
- Clarie Slatter, founding member of DAWN and a feminist scholar;
- ‘Atu Emerson Bain, UN Regional Adviser on Social Development;
- Vanessa Griffen, founding contributor to the early Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Movement;
- Pene Moore, 1st Coord. of FWRM;
- Amelia Rokotuivuna, 1st Fiji staff of Fiji YWCA.
Many more women worked together peacefully to pull Fiji back on the track of a democratic country.
One needs to note that many of these women gained international recognition and held very powerful positions in the society—not through forceful acquiring of positions, but for their peaceful and righteous acts. None of these women leaders practiced violence, nor preached for violent movements. They were able to achieve their goals through peaceful means.
The work of these early women leaders in Fiji has led to the peaceful actions of women leaders in Fiji to negotiate, act on, and portray that much can be achieved without violence, even today.
As the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees for femLINKpacific, I have learned much from the activities of these trailblazing women. During the 2000 coup, a group of women kept a vigil at a church in Suva. That led to the formation of femLINKpacific under the leadership of former director Sharon Bhagwan Rolls. As a participant of that vigil, I understood that nothing could be achieved through protest marches, strikes and violence. The peaceful vigils did not go unnoticed. Leadership of such women led to a gradual move back to democracy. While the last few years were trying for Fiji, it currently has a democratically elected government which has allowed:
- full representation of people of all creeds to participate in politics,
- provided a full freedom of expression,
- recognition of women’s birth names on passports and birth certificates,
- allowed union activism,
- reemployed workers that were unfairly dismissed,
- extended the retirement age
My current role is multi-modal. I lead femLINKpacific, a media NGO; I lead the Centre for Flexible Learning at a regional university; and I happen to be the wife of the DPM of Fiji. None of these roles expect anything but righteous, peaceful, futurist and thoughtful actions from me. Without being at peace with oneself, without peaceful actions, without portraying peace, I cannot become a role model of a peaceful leader. Peace begins at home. And when one is not living in a peaceful environment, one cannot be expected to demonstrate peace in the society. It is with that belief that I ensure that there is peace in the environment my husband and I live in. Being at peace, being truthful, being dedicated to one’s duties, being responsible for one’s actions, and being good role models for others are the virtues both of us follow.
I bring best wishes from my husband for this Summit. He is in Seoul, but at another conference and cannot be here with us. But he sends his best wishes and promises to make time and come one of the days we are all here.
om dyauh shantir antariksham shantih
prithivi shanti rapah shanti roshadhayah shantih |
vanaspatayah shanti rvishvedevah shantir brahma shantih
sarvam shantih shanti reva shantih sa ma shanti redhi ||
om shantih shantih shantih ||
English Meaning
May peace radiate there in the whole Universe – in the vast ethereal space everywhere,
In the water, in the land and in the sky,
In space, in fire, in the wind, in medicine, in vegetation, in the forest, in the grove
in the subconscious all over the world
May peace reign in the hearts of all living beings and in every particle of the world
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti.
To go to the Peace Summit 2023 Schedule page, click here.