Fiji Opposes Men’s Department Plan, Sparking Debate on Women’s Rights

The Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (FWCC) has expressed strong opposition to recent proposals advocating for the establishment of a “men’s department,” asserting that such a move reflects a significant misunderstanding of gender inequality and could jeopardize advancements in women’s rights.

Shamima Ali, the FWCC coordinator, emphasized that the current Ministry for Women and related national initiatives were created to combat entrenched discrimination against women, rather than to provide special privileges. She pointed out that women have faced systemic exclusion in various spheres, including law, policies, economic opportunities, and national decision-making processes, highlighting the depth of gender inequality present in society.

Ali warned that the creation of a department focused on men’s issues would divert attention from the urgent needs of women in Fiji, where men predominantly hold power in Parliament, Cabinet, business sectors, law enforcement, defense, and religious institutions. She articulated concerns that this proposal could drain essential resources needed for violence prevention and support for survivors, and wrongly compare men’s issues with the systemic barriers women face.

FWCC also highlighted the ongoing underfunding of women’s rights initiatives, stating that reallocating resources to establish a men’s department would not only undermine decades of advocacy but also threaten the progress made in integrating women’s concerns into national policy frameworks.

While acknowledging that men also face challenges—such as mental health issues and the repercussions of toxic masculinity—the FWCC argued for addressing these matters through the enhancement of existing ministries, rather than creating a separate entity. Ali underscored the importance of transforming harmful societal norms and bolstering mental health and social services as the true solutions, instead of issuing a new ministry based on an inaccurate narrative of equal disadvantage.

The FWCC firmly contends that the establishment of women’s ministries is warranted due to the real and persistent imbalance in gender representation and rights. Any initiative that disregards this critical reality, they argue, fails to genuinely uphold principles of human rights or evidence-based policy-making.