The Speaker of the House Papalii Lio Masipau made a bold statement about why he thinks gender inequality exists in politics. He views the matai system and customs as prohibiting women from traditional governance impacting their chances to run for office.

Papalii just returned from touring the parliament in New South Wales, Australia. It was an eye-opening experience for him to see more women involved in politics and at a policy level. He must have thought hard before making this bold statement.

He may not be off the target. He is right in saying that the village setting is proving to be a difficult hurdle faced by women wanting to enter the political arena.

“Our matai system should treat women equally as men so that we don’t need to have the 10 per cent requirement…there is no equality in our matai system and some village setups don’t allow our mothers to participate or sit in village councils,” Papalii said.

According to the Speaker, the Legislative Assembly is made up of 51 representatives from the districts and the reason for extra seats is to meet gender equality in the House.

He added the constitutional requirement to have 10 per cent women representation in the House would not be needed if mothers were treated equally within villages. 

According to the 2020 Samoa Voluntary National Review (VNR), 22 per cent of registered matai in Samoa are women. The lower share of female to male matai presents a significant barrier to closing the gender gap in political participation in Samoa.

However, there exists strong women leadership in some villages, the traditional village system includes the local government councils, church leadership, school management and community-based organisations. The matai system, however, presents significant barriers to women’s access and participation in decision-making.

A previous survey from M.W.C.S.D. showed 16 villages banned women from receiving matai titles and a larger number of villages excluded women matai from village councils, a total of 36.

A report carried out by the National University of Samoa (N.U.S.) Centre for Samoan Studies in 2016 called, Political Representation and Women’s Empowerment in Samoa was the most recent finding about women's representation in Samoa.

The findings stated that women were most likely to be given a title in recognition of high educational or career attainments or because they had rendered particular service to the family with generous financial support.

Bestowing a title upon women honours her, but it does not necessarily carry the expectations that she will become a leader in her ancestral village.

In effect, many women matai hold their titles on an honorary basis; they may or may not have authority in the extended family, but typically have limited opportunity to exercise authority in the village, the report stated.

There are many exceptions, such as Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa, a leader in her village and has represented her district in parliament for more than 20 years.

She is the sole holder of one of Samoa’s highest-ranked matai titles and is a direct descendant of past holders of Samoa’s paramount titles.

It seems that the only way to have more women representation is to have more women candidates and that can only be done if women matai are given the same opportunity as their male counterparts. This is something that cannot be forced by way of policy.

This requires a referendum and agreement from all matai that women would be allowed more seats within the village council. This requires acceptance from matai in Samoa that women are needed in politics.

If the government wants to tread on the legal means of getting equal representation of women if the traditional doors remain closed, it could open a whole new can of worms. This would then require changes in the Electoral Act. The government may have to remove the clause that states only a matai can contest an election.

This could allow more women representation but this option would not go down well with a lot of people. This would also open doors for others who are not matai to contest elections.

This is a topic that should be up for discussion in parliament, high-level village council discussions, and between the government and the matai of Samoa.

The Speaker’s statement is definitely food for thought.