Govt has been relentless in its efforts towards empowerment of the rural population including women and girls - Vuniwaqa

The Fijian government has been relentless in its efforts towards the empowerment of the rural population including women and girls with its unprecedented investment in infrastructure development in rural areas, legal reforms to repeal gender discriminatory laws and access to justice initiatives particularly targeted at the rural population.

This was highlighted by the Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation Mereseini Vuniwaqa while delivering her country statement on the Status of Women on "Challenges and Opportunities in Achieving Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Rural Women and Girls", at the 62nd Commission on the Status of Women in New York.

Vuniwaqa says that rural Fijian women make up 48.1% of the rural Fijian population and 21.2% of the nation's population.

She says Fiji is made up of over 300 islands and rural women and girls reside over at least a hundred of those islands where accessibility and connectivity to services becomes a critical consideration.

Vuniwaqa says that investment in social protection has ensured that elderly women who have no superannuation, not having worked in paid employment their entire lives do still have access to a pension.

The Minister says this ensures that single mothers who have no source of income receive something to assist in looking after their children and ensures that women living with disabilities have an allowance to cater for their needs.