A survey to be released publicly this evening reveals that a majority of Fijians feel women are under-represented in government.

The research project “Public perception of women in Leadership” was undertaken by the Fiji Women’s Forum late last year.

Fiji Women’s Forum Coordinator, Losana Tuiraviravi says eighty one percent respondents agreed that women are under-represented in Fiji.

Seventy two percent people think it would be better for the country if there were women in the national government.

“The Fiji Women’s Forum wanted to find out more about the public perception of women in leadership so basically this research is something we hope to get more information of what do people of Fiji want from leaders and how do they understand leadership and to what extent do perspectives vary by.”

The majority of respondents identified cultural barriers, discrimination and a lack of support at community level as major reasons for fewer women than men standing in elections.

Seventeen percent women would prefer to vote for a woman.

“The perception study interviewed around 1211 men and women. They were from rural and urban areas of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu. There were twenty five focused group discussions with a total of 187 participants.”

The survey was conducted late last year.

However the situation has changed now after the General Election.

There are now seven women in parliament.