UN Women woo women politicians with radio drama
UN Women has launched a radio drama as part of efforts to encourage more Pacific women to enter politics.
Transcript
UN Women has launched a radio drama as part of efforts to encourage more Pacific women to enter politics.
The 10-episode series, which is titled A Time to Stand, features a fictional character called Mere and centres on the challenges she faces in standing for office.
The Pacific region has the world's lowest levels of women in parliament, with an average of just 7 percent - the global average is 21.8 percent.
This month elections are being held in Solomon Islands and Tonga.
Amelia Langford spoke to a UN Women spokesperson, Alicia Kenilorea, who says a pidgin version of A Time to Stand has been running in Solomon Islands in the leadup to the country's elections.
ALICIA KENILOREA: The radio programme is about this lady who wants to stand for elections so we are trying to give a perception to the voters that women can also take on leadership roles so basically this radio drama portrays all the negativity that women face when they want to run for elections and also as voters.
AMELIA LANGFORD: Okay so tell us a little bit about the story of Mere and her family.
AK: So Mere is an agricultural officer and she is very good at talking and giving public speeches and she knows her job well and she is approached to run for elections. And for her, in the first instance, she thinks 'what?' you know, she loves to talk about agriculture but not really politics. But then she got encouraged by her friend and she decided to run.
AL: So is it supposed to be political to encourage women but also entertaining?
AK: Yes, so you will find a bit of humour in there as well - kind of reflecting Solomon Islands humour. Trying to conceptualise it, for people here to relate to. Because it is one thing to do a radio drama but you need to capture the people and people here in the Solomons they have a way of relating to such things. The drama is an innovative way. As you know, radio is one of our biggest formal media here in the Solomons so it was one of the best ways to relay the information to people, disseminate information to people, not just urban centres but also in the rural areas.
AL: And it's set in a fictional country isn't it, or the country is never mentioned. Is that because you want the message to be relevant to all Pacific Island countries?
AK: Yeah, that's right. We have Tonga too who will be having the elections as well. We have got the English and for us the Pigdin, but we also have the English version which is available online so yes, it can be used also in other Pacific countries.
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