VILLAGE GOVERNMENT & COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANISATIONS IN SAMOA

To what extent do women participate?

Samoa, a paradox?

× Samoa ranks 131, near the bottom on the world scale of 139 countries for representation of women in parliament.

× Political participation of women is low (2/49 members of Parliament)

The gap between women and men in middle and senior management jobs in the public sector is narrowing

Gender equity is almost achieved in formal employment and private enterprise

Gender equity has been achieved in education

Women in Samoa’s Parliament since 1961

Source: Soo (2012).

Samoa, a paradox?

× Samoa ranks 131, near the bottom on the world scale of 139 countries for representation of women in parliament.

× Political participation of women is low (2/49 members of Parliament)

The gap between women and men in middle and senior management jobs in the public sector is narrowing

Gender equity is almost achieved in formal employment and private enterprise

Gender equity has been achieved in education

How to explain the paradox? Samoa Local Government Research Project

(SLGRP) Designed by the Centre for Samoan Studies at the

National University of Samoa; funded by ADRAS We don’t know why women have more leadership

roles in some villages than others. H0 : neo-traditional village government and

mainstream churches strongly deter women from assuming leadership roles.

Nation-wide survey of leadership across villages (i.e. village councils, churches, schools, CBOs and other organizations)

Village Government

80% of the total female population live in rural areas

240 ‘traditional’ villages in Samoa with the following traditional governance structures: One village council (fono) of matai (chiefs) who make

decisions based on consensus One village mayor (pulenuu) Traditional associations of untitled men & daughters

of the village A traditional honorific salutation (faalupega)

Churches as ‘informal agents’ in village government

Number of villages by number of churches in traditional villages

Source: SLGRP database.

Chiefs (matai)

Matai titles unique to the village they belong to. Matai titles are the property of Samoan

extended families; matai represent family interests

Matai are the village decision makers Only matai can stand for Parliament 13,423 matai in traditional villages Basic profile

Majority reside in the village; only 5.33% are female ¼ have only received primary school education Most over the age of 40

Percentage of village mayors (pulenuu) by sex

Source: SLGRP database.

Percentage of chiefs (matai) by sex

Source: SLGRP database.

Women chiefs (matai)

There is a lot of variance across villages with respect to women matai 34 villages do allow women to hold titles but do not

allow them to participate in village council meetings 41 villages do not allow for the ritual bestowment of

titles on women Other variations:

Some villages do not allow women to hold titles Some villages allow women to hold titles if they reside

elsewhere Women who hold titles and whom live outside of the

village can sit in the village council meeting

Percentage of women titleholders who attend village council meetings by choice

Source: SLGRP database.

Women’s committees

Introduced by the colonial government (1920s) Responsible for public health; restricted

membership Led by the wives of the senior chiefs & orators Hierarchy determined & analogous to status of

husbands relative to the village government Of the 240 traditional villages

70% had one village-wide women’s committee 28% (or 66) had more than 1 women’s committee 2% (or 7) had inactive or multiple women’s

committees

Women’s representative to Govt. Similar role to village mayors (pulenuu);

paid by the government ‘Conduit’ between village & government

departments, as well as civil society organisations

76% (or 182) villages have elected representatives

24% (or 58) do not* Most representatives do not hold titles

albeit titles are not mandatory

School committees

72% (or 173) villages have at least 1 primary school

7% (or16) villages have 2 primary schools

84% of school committee members are male

16% female* 62% of primary school principals are

female 79% of deputy primary school principals

are female*

Village based businesses and CBOs 34% of village businesses are owned by

females (mostly shops) 66% of village businesses are owned by

males* 46% of all CBO leaders are female*

Preliminary conclusions…

Political decisions are made in a highly patriarchal electoral environment

At the local level, women’s political representation (5%) is close to that at the national level (4%)

A small proportion of villages specifically exclude women from village councils (14%)

In most villages, if there are women matai there, they are discouraged from participation by informal conventions*

Despite ratification of CEDAW, the state has no power to determine or even influence the gender composition of village councils*

Looking ahead…

Phase II of the SLGRP – case studies of 30 villages Encourage a public conversation about the political

representation of women Share findings:

public seminars & debates on the findings, including village councils and parliamentarians;

engage with the media; share information with departments & the Law Reform

Committee; contribute to on-going deliberations on the legal

powers of village government; make a submission to Cabinet on our findings

For more information..

Visit the Centre for Samoan Studies at the National University of Samoa (NUS)

Email our research team:Dr. Malama Meleisea <m.meleisea@nus.edu.ws>Dr. Penelope Schoeffel

<p.schoeffel@nus.edu.ws>Dr. Ioana Chan Mow <i.chanmow@nus.edu.ws>Semau Ausage Lauano <a.lauano@nus.edu.ws>Hobert Sasa <h.sasa@nus.edu.ws>Measina Meredith <m.meredith@nus.edu.ws>

Visit our new website:

www.samoanstudies.ws

Faafetai. Thank you.