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Country Gender Assessment for the Republic of the Fiji Islands

Opening Address
by
Sirpa Jarvenpaa
Regional Director
South Pacific Subregional Office
Asian Development Bank

10 October 2006
Suva, Fiji Islands

Thank you and Good Evening,
Salutations,
Honorable Ilaitia Tuisese, Minister of Fisheries and Forests and Acting Minister for Women, Social Welfare and Housing
Honorable Ministers, Senators and Parliamentarians
Chief Executive Officers and Senior Government Officials
Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Colleagues

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is indeed a great honor for me to talk to you about gender and development this evening - but first of all -

Let me congratulate the Fiji Islands, including all of you present here today, for the progress achieved in recognizing gender issues in relation to legal and human rights and development since the Asian Development Bank published, in the country, its Women in Development Country Briefing Paper in 1988.

For the benefit of those less familiar with Fiji's relationship with ADB, allow me to highlight that Fiji joined ADB in 1970 and is now one of its 63 member countries. In these 36 years, ADB has helped the Government finance its public sector investment program and has supported preparation of policy initiatives in numerous important areas, including -- in the area of gender and development.

Many women in Fiji - also many present here today - have been working hard to build awareness in this society on the need for a greater equity in the economic development and the socio-political life.

These efforts have been relentless and have led to achievements in improving the gender balance in the country.

ADB places great importance on the cross-cutting theme of gender equality and ADB' s Country Partnership Strategy for the next five years will be grounded on principles that foster gender equity - crucial for scaling up ADB's development effectiveness in Fiji.

The Government's commitments to gender equality are enshrined in eight major international agreements and programs for action on gender equality and the advancement of women.

Fiji has also committed to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Government, in 1999, endorsed the national Women's Plan of Action 1999-2008 with five goals for advancing economic, legal and political status of women.

Again reflecting the efforts of the civil society and the hard-working individuals, one notable development since 1988 has been the formation of gender advocacy groups with increased capacity to influence Government policy.

And now, as the Honorable Minister Tuisese stated, in the new Strategic Development Plan 2007 to 2011, the Government further has committed to creating an environment that enables women to participate fully in the socio-economic development of the country, placing emphasis on gender equality and mainstreaming women's concerns in Government policies and programs.

ADB's next 5-year strategy is guided by the Government's SDP in addition to ADB's strategic development objectives such as economic growth, poverty reduction, human development, including population planning, and sound management of natural resources and the environment - which cannot be fully achieved without increased investments in women and greater attention to women's needs, concerns, and contributions.

Public policies and investments that promote the development of women have proven economic payoffs in terms of higher growth rates; improved productivity; reduced health and welfare costs; lower fertility, and lower infant and maternal mortality; and increased life expectancy all contributing to building a sound human resource foundation for development.

Keeping women at the margins of development would slow the overall development efforts and the achievement of goals of the country.

Public policies to reduce gender inequalities are essential for counteracting market failures and improving the well-being of all members of the society.

Discrimination against women, both in the private realm of the household and the public realm of the market, carry not only private costs for the individuals, but social and economic costs for the overall society.

Therefore, it is in the interest of the country to promote, support, enhance, and ensure women's participation in development and women's more equitable sharing of the rewards of development.

ADB's next 5-year Partnership Strategy and Assistance Program for Fiji is framed through thorough analysis of the constraints and opportunities for development. Among these assessments - including poverty, environment, private sector, and economic assessments - the Country Gender Assessment is an integral part of the Partnership Strategy preparation process.

ADB's Policy on Gender and Development - alike the suggested strategy in the Fiji's Gender Assessment - adopts mainstreaming as a key strategy in promoting gender equity. Gender considerations will be mainstreamed into all ADB activities, including macroeconomic and sector work, lending and technical assistance operations. The key elements of ADB's policy will include gender sensitivity, gender analysis, gender planning, mainstreaming, and agenda setting.

The Country Gender Assessment provides us with recommendations on how to handle gender mainstreaming into ADB's programs in Fiji and how the Ministry for Women's Affairs can incorporate gender consideration into its operations. This joint assessment will feed into the ADB's Country Partnership Strategy and Program.

In the context of Harmonization and Improving Aid Effectiveness, I propose that the Country Gender Assessment also provides a fundamental diagnostic and a workplan for all of us Development Partners to account in delivery of assistance to Fiji - and therefore I call on development partners to mainstream gender considerations in all development activities.

Ladies and Gentlemen, turning to the content of the Assessment - ADB acknowledges that Fiji's social indicators are high by Asian standards, and that Fiji is likely to achieve the social sector MDGs by 2015, particularly those pertaining to higher life expectancies, lower infant and maternal mortality rates, and universal primary school enrollment as well as lower gender disparity in primary and secondary education.

On the other hand, the Country Gender Assessment - we are launching this evening - provides a critical analysis of what progress has actually been achieved in promoting gender balance and equity in the today's Fiji.

It indicates that gaps in the implementation of the Government policy on gender are many; that there is a need to address the institutional arrangements to achieve a more efficient promotion of gender policy; and that enhancements are needed in the planning and budgeting for these gender policies.

The implications of gender gaps in economic and social development cross cut the economy and affect everyone. They are reflected in current conditions through lacking equal opportunities, industrial development, poverty conditions, characteristics of rural development, gender-specific variance in public health conditions and commerce, political participation of women, family violence, reproductive health, and in the recent HIV/AIDS contraction rates.

Finally, the absence of relevant data to support gender analysis is constraining advocacy for reducing gaps in planning, budgeting, and implementing gender policies.

In terms of equal opportunity -- although Government has adopted Equal Employment Opportunity policies for the civil service -- these still need to be more diligently applied and appropriately incorporated into legislation. Across the board, women participate in the economic life less than men and hold only around 16% of senior executive positions in Government, most of these still mainly in the social sectors.

Women dominate as workers the shrinking manufacturing sector and there is a question of whether development based on labor-intensive industry, using predominately female labor and low wages is a socially and economically appropriate development strategy for Fiji. With the cost of living increasing and generally high in Fiji, these women struggle to support their families on low wages.

In the poverty profile, the Assessment points out that women in Fiji are more susceptible to a higher risk of poverty and destitution associated both with labor force discrimination and increasing divorce and separation rates. Most Fijian women lack inheritance rights to land and land rents as well as to other major assets.

In terms of commerce, in the rural regions women are the major subsistence producers and small-scale food and handicraft marketers. Sadly, most Fijian handicrafts are unable to compete with the cheap imported imitations.

In terms of public health, twice the number of women compared to men suffers from nutritionally-related diseases associated with poor diets and poverty. Much greater efforts are needed to address food security and public health and promote the supply, distribution, and consumption of locally produced food.

ADB's analysis proves that investing in women's health has positive impacts on reducing population growth rates, improving health and welfare of children and families, reducing health costs -- all contributing to poverty reduction. Throughout the world, it has been shown that improving health care for women aged 15-44 offers the greatest returns on health care spending for any group of adults.

Political participation by women remains low in Fiji. Despite Government policy, requiring 50% of representatives on government boards and other public bodies to be women, at present women make only about 19% of total appointments - these concentrating on minor boards and committees.

Internationally, quotas have played an important role in increasing female representation in parliaments, especially in the Nordic countries - where female representation has reached global records. However, today there are only 11 female heads of state in a world of 193 countries.

The Assessment goes on to outline that:

• Police statistics demonstrate that domestic violence is a severe issue for women in Fiji.
• there is a need to promote rural family planning targeting both men and women to improve maternal health, the fifth MDG goal.
• among new cases, since 2004 - more women than men were confirmed HIV positive, hinting at a grater risk of Fiji moving towards an epidemic - calling for a strong emphasis on gender-focus in preventing HIV transmission.

To build Government's capacity to meet its commitment to gender and development, the Ministry of Women has a task to build advocacy roles across the Government's ministries and a task to build a supporting championing focal role within the Ministry itself.

ADB's strategy will mainstream gender and development in all of its activities in Fiji - promoting women's participation in the private sector, devising alternative livelihoods for poor women; targeting women in rural and outer island economic development; and developing the competitiveness of the economy in Fiji to attract higher levels of investment, generating private-sector driven employment growth - providing greater opportunities for women.

In conclusion - Ladies and Gentlemen, many contributors to the preparation of the Country Gender Assessment - have been acknowledged in the pages of the Assessment.

You have indeed prepared a very constructive Country Gender Assessment that canvasses a path forward for both the Government and its development partners, including the Asian Development Bank, toward a greater gender balance and equity.

However, a special thanks goes to the advocates of gender equity in Fiji, and particularly to the Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Emele Duituturaga and Ms. Shireen Lateef, Director at ADB, who have together spear-headed the preparation of the Assessment;

And to the many women of Fiji that are raising their expectations and hopes of greater opportunity to contribute to and participate in the betterment of life in Fiji.

Thank you.