UNIFEM NZ is currently supporting a project in the Marshall Islands in partnership with UNIFEM Pacific and WUTMI (Women United Together in the Marshall Islands).

Gender equality in decision making & leadership

Project goal: To enable Marshallese women to fully participate in democratic processes and address gender imbalance in all levels of decision-making.

Objective: To educate and empower 48 people, one woman and one man from each of 24 rural and urban areas in the Marshall Islands, by giving them the confidence and skills to increase gender and voter awareness in their communities, in the lead up to the next general election in 2008.

Background: UNIFEM NZ embarked on this project in 2004. At that time the number of women in parliament (Nitijela) had not increased in 10 years and there was only one woman MP in a parliament of 33 members. Similarly the number of women holding key positions in government and the public service was very low with a ratio of one women for every fourteen men - yet women make up 49% of the population.

Women in the Marshall Islands have historically had little access to resources, accurate information or further education and therefore have been disadvantaged and disempowered with respect to having “a voice”. Better understanding of their human rights and constitutional and civic rights, training on political and civic issues will raise women’s awareness about how their vote could impact on their daily life and improve participation in decision-making, and especially in the electoral process.

Current status of the project:

Donations received from International Women’s Day events throughout New Zealand enable UNIFEM NZ to continue financing WUTMI (Women United Together in the Marshall Islands) as they conclude the second phase of mentoring workshops and move on to the very necessary follow-up processes of monitoring and evaluation. This is taking place in communities, large and small, on all the widely scattered inhabited atolls and islands of the Marshall Islands.

Carefully designed and facilitated discussion forums on women’s rights and gender equality, civics and voter education in the lead up to the November 2007 elections were well attended by local men as well as women. Further, the translation of the Marshall Islands Constitution into Marshallese language and its general distribution countrywide allowed access to it by all and this ‘first’ was much appreciated.

The project is definitely steadily increasing general awareness among men and women of the worth and potential of women as leaders from grass-roots to MPs. It has given the Marshallese people a solid grounding for further progress as UNIFEM Pacific rolls out its new GEPG (Gender Equality Pacific Governance) Stronger Women Citizens and Leaders.