New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern met with women leaders from parliament, the private sector and the social services sector.

She led discussions on how womens’ empowerment, gender based violence and the progress of women in general could be tackled not just in Fiji but the region.

“New Zealand society is not free of these issues. We ourselves are very openly working to tackle domestic violence, intimate partner violence, violence against children, inequality in pay, issues of economic sovereignty fr women. In my view, so long as we have these issues in our society, we must always be champions for women”.

Ardern says while the issue is a priority for her government, the real work is being done by women leading the charge on the ground.

She highlighted that while Fiji has very good representation of women in parliament, in other parts of the Pacific there are no women elected to power.