Samoa's Prime Minister has recalled the 2021 Constitutional Crisis and spoke of how "proud" she was for Samoa to transition government successfully following the general election.

Speaking in an interview with Australia's national broadcaster ABC last Thursday, Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa said her administration had a "challenging transition" following the 2021 General Election but to this day remains proud of how the country was able to ensure a smooth transition of government despite the challenges.

"I went to my first UN meeting last year and so many leaders from different parts of the world came up to me and said 'Oh you know...congratulations on being able to transition successfully'," said the Prime Minister. "What they [leaders] were talking about, I think, was that the processes of democracy had seen us [Samoa] through.

"So I am very proud of that and you know, a lot has been said, is still been said about the new government having a lot of newbies and that, inexperienced.

"We are a parliament of Samoan matai [chief] so I think the background of all of us as matai, we have that experience of leadership, coming from our respective villages and different affiliations that we belong to and we bring that experience to national government."

Fiamē said this when she was responding to a question from the host of the ABC News The Pacific program, Johnson Raela, who asked the Prime Minister what she was most proud of during her 2-plus years in Government.

The Prime Minister was then asked for her thoughts on the role of women leaders and being in decision-making positions in Samoa and across the Pacific.

"You Johnson, you are a Pacific boy, you know who does all the work, if you want anything done, you are usually asking the women to do it," said Fiamē in response. "I always say this because I am asked about women in leadership and we are the region with the lowest level of representation of women in public office or public life.

"I think the way that our societies are set up, and you know the level of our economies, is that women are very much tied to traditional roles and functions and that's the reality."

The Prime Minister said in more developed nations, there are "services" available that lighten the responsibilities that women have to take on. 

"I have been in this game [politics] since 1985...so there are certainly institutional biases that get in the way of women being elected but I think that's a sort of universal thing, which comes down to bias and all those sorts of discriminatory attitudes and so forth."

However, Fiamē said she believes those hurdles can be addressed through legislation as well as working on changing people's mindsets during crucial periods such as elections. 

"But like anything else, if you don't have that first number of people who are interested, you know if that grows, the representation will also, I think grow for women leaders," she said.