There is a record number of women candidates for the 2025 Bougainville election. Photo: Autonomous Bougainville Government
A Bougainville advocacy group that champions women in the autonomous Papua New Guinea region has been running training workshops to prepare female candidates for next month's election.
Bougainville will to the polls on 4 September.
There is a record number of women candidates, with 14 lining up in the three seats reserved for women, and also the largest number yet taking on the men in the open constituencies.
Helen Hakena, left, heads the Leitana Nehan Women’s Development Agency. Photo: Facebook / Leitana Nehan Women’s Development Agency
Helen Hakena, who heads the Leitana Nehan Women's Development Agency, told RNZ Pacific about the nature of the work her organisation has been undertaking to raise confidence levels among aspiring women politicians.
(This transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.)
Helen Hakena: Leitana Nehan Women's Development Agency, even before the writs were open, we were conducting training, leadership training across Bougainville for potential women candidates, to give them confidence in running for elections. We are so happy that there are 37 women candidates now contesting this election.
Don Wiseman: Yes, I actually was told by the Electoral Commissioner there are 34 women.
HH: Yeah 34.
DW: What's the nature of the training?
HH: What politics is about. What is politics. The role of parliamentarians and how to do manifestos. We have been running training for women on that because women lack training.
We have experienced that in the past elections few who contested knew a lot about what politics was.
We wanted to run training for more women so that they had the confidence in knowing what the responsibilities of Parliamentarians would be. So that is why and how to campaign as well.
Those are the topics that we were running for the women.
DW: One of the big issues for women in the past has been they haven't had the support from other women out in the electorates. Do you think that's changing on Bougainville?
HH: This is changing in Bougainville. We have got great confidence in women. That is why we are working together to progress, to push women leaders who are capable of participating at the highest level decision making bodies like the parliament. It has changed over the years.
DW: There are two women at the moment in open seats. Do you think there'll be more come this next election?
HH: There will be more? Yeah, in this election, we are hoping that there would be more, because we are seeing the interest and the confidence that men in our communities have for women, women leaders across all constituencies.
So we are looking forward to more women winning the constituency seats this time around.
DW: Now the reserved seats for women, it's not something that's going to stay in place forever. When do you think Bougainville will be ready to not have reserved seats for women?
HH: When Bougainville is independent and we are ready, I believe in women, and I have great confidence in women contesting the same seats as men.
I believe that during the period when we are independent in the next five years, then we will be very confident in women, pulling women into those places.
DW: When Bougainville went into the last election, looking ahead at that five year period through to 2025 there had been an expectation, I think, with many, that at the end of that period, there would be independence. But is Bougainville any closer to independence than it was in 2020?
HH: Like Bougainville now is much closer to independence than what it was in 2020 because everyone on the ground, we've had independent ready activities going on in all constituencies across Bougainville.
This shows us that people in the communities around Bougainville, we are ready for independence in 2027.
DW: What are the major issues do you think that your organization would like to see women MPs pushing in the parliament?
HH: The major issues would be, you know, we really would like this government, if we are an independent nation, we would like a democratic government. We would like a government that would allow people their choices, to be consulted on issues affecting Bougainville during this period and the period when we are independent.
We would really like to see an independent and democratic government, because we have fought for peace and our freedom as well, and we do not want that to be thrown out the window.
