There has been ongoing debates over whether the government as ‘a temporary measure’ should allow for the participation of women in Parliament by reserving 10 seats specially set aside for women in the Solomon Islands.
Don Boykin is a great personal friend & mentor, an American who has made Solomon Islands home for more than a decade shares his thoughts on this debate. Read on for the full transcript of his views.
Women in Parliament
Don Boykin
June 9 2009
The transition of women’s and men’s attitudes concerning the role of Solomon Island women in national governance is best brought forward through the transformation of men and women by the Words of God rather than through merely changing the structure of an economic system of governance.
In the final analysis, if you want lasting and meaningful change one must transform the hearts of human beings. Legislation doesn’t necessarily change individuals for the betterment or advancement of a society, neither does reasoning or emotional appeals. God changes people from inside out, decisively, completely, permanently. The hearts of mankind are reserved for God. The plan of God includes men and women working towards bringing about an ever advancing civilization. When one arrives at higher levels of being civilised one becomes a person who embraces men and women to serve at the national level in conformance with the motto “To lead is to serve” and from my perspective, unless of coarse the statement in its original context/intent excluded women, which I don’t believe it does, the statement is void of gender bias. That being the case, women should campaign during the forthcoming election on the basis of their agenda/platform as it relates to the concerns expressed by the constituents within their Provinces’ electoral boundaries.
Women are also change makers and have been so since the dawn of Creation. If one argues that women in the Solomon Islands are inferior to men then consider the following notion. In America where racism was rampant European Americans looked down upon African Americans and said all sorts of degrading comments about the inability of African Americans to compete with European Americans. What the European Americans were doing in the early 1800’s through the 1970’s was advocating inferior education or no education for their African slaves and it amounted to a scene tantamount to someone taking a timber stick and hitting a person across her/his legs and then standing back to criticise how the person walked. The European Americans refused to see that their actions were the cause of the so-called inability to compete.
So my friends, when women in the Solomon Islands receive equal opportunity for education as men – please take note that some have already achieved this status and are quite capable today to serve this nation – we will experience the balanced force of governance in the Parliament Chamber in the Solomon Islands.