Cook Islands case studies – women in politics and the media
Jason Brown has been a journalist in the Cook Islands since 1982; and has gone from print to television to publishing online while freelancing and serving as the Cook Islands correspondant for IBI. He notes that the first country in the world to give women the vote was not New Zealand in 1893 but the Cook Islands, just a few years before. However he also notes that when the resident commissioner changed, women in the Cook Islands also lost the vote and that the lesson to be learnt is not just making things change but making change stick.
In 2002, I had the very great fortune to accompany a young woman from Tahiti to a world conference on hiv.aids with 15,000 other delegates.
It was an overwhelming experience for someone brought up on a small island – big crowds, big governments, companies and big issues.
And that was just me from the sidelines!
I think you’ve all heard of Maire Bopp Dupont. In 2002, as the representative for the world’s small communities, Maire had to give a speech in front of 12,000 people at the closing ceremonies of the 14th World AIDS Conference.
At those ceremonies, Maire was on stage with just three other people: the conference chairman, Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela. Hugely powerful men, who arrived in limousines with dark tinted windows and a staff of a dozen or me each.
Maire had me, her bag boy and media puppy.
As a former journalist, Maire Bopp Dupont also knew the power of information. Before the closing ceremonies she told me that she wanted to say something about military spending and to compare it with spending on AIDS.
So I went onto the BBC news site and tracked down spending for the American armed forces. If I recall correctly, I think it was US$394 billion. Maire compared this with the US$10 billion being asked for AIDS.
As Maire was speaking, I was watching Bill Clinton who had his legs stretched out and his chin resting on his hand, listening carefully. When Maire got to the bit about the US$394 billion I saw Clinton give a kind of a twitch and I thought – uh oh – he didn’t like that bit!
But I thought to myself - he could not argue with what Maire had said because she had the facts.
I think there are two important points here.
One point is that women in politics can use facts and figures reported by the media to strengthen their statements and their policy statements. It shows you are in touch. It shows that you listen to other points of view. It shows that you are accountable to what is happening in your community.
It shows that you’re not too busy or important to read the same news as everyone else!
If I want to know more about a current issue, I not only look on the web. I also use a service like Google News to send me daily headlines. I don’t read everything but every now and then a headline will catch my eye and that will help give me background and keep me up to date.
Keeping an eye on the headlines also gives you a feel for what is happening internationally and, most importantly, how issues and efforts in your own country fit in on the global stage.
Last week, I bought a copy of Time magazine because of the headline and what it said about the environment: Be worried. Be very worried.
Now the more news and information you take in from the media, the more you get a feeling – an “intuition” that women are supposed to be famous for – and that men call by the less flowery name of a “gut” instinct – the more you get a feeling for how the world is changing around you and how that effects your country.
What this means is that women can use the media, to USE the NEWS to pick an issue and run with it, to become known as the main person in your community, your party, your country, to talk about this one issue.
Right now, for example, as a journalist, I can think of few better issues for women in politics than the one raised by Time. They are saying that global warming is no vague notion. That it global warming and sea level rise is not something that will affect our kids or their kids, but ourselves in our life times.
As I researched online for this presentation, I asked Google News to find me articles on gender, women and the environment. Most of the 600 or more articles were about the working environment for women rather than women working for the environment.
But I went through zip zip zip scanning all 600 headlines as quickly as I could and limiting myself only to headlines that were very obviously about women and the global environment. All 600 headlines. It took me about half an hour and I got about a dozen articles.
Three of those articles pointed to different aspects of a storm that is brewing in gender politics and the United Nations. There is growing pressure on the United Nations to recognise the fact
> that only 16% of its under secretaries are women.
> that no woman has ever been secretary general
> that no women were on the list for the new director of the United Nations Environment Programme
> that women’s programmes are scattered around under a half dozen or so divisions and that women do not have their own.
In fact you could say that these gender politics are brewing up into what Hollywood calls the Perfect Storm!
But these areas are being well covered at this workshop.
What I am trying to point out is that women in politics can use the media to keep informing themselves about issues like these after this workshop ends and the next one begins.
Which leads me to my second important point:
That you don’t need to be a women in politics to make a difference as a women to politics. Or to have a huge staff of advisers.
I still remember Barcelona and how Bill Clinton got up to speak after Maire had finished talking, including about all the spending on the US Military.
His notes were ready and his speech was all prepared. As he read from his speech notes he referred to the tragedy of 911 and the fact that 3,000 people died on that day – but that many more people die of AIDS every day. He also referred to the fact that the costs of fighting terror in Afghanistan would pay the annual AIDS bill in just a few weeks.
It was then that I realised that Bill Clinton had twitched during Maire’s speech not because he disagreed with what she was saying but that she had had the same idea as he had – and had the facts and figures to back it up.
She was a woman from a small island state who used the power of the media to help make her point to a global audience.
Tereapii Carr is a founding member and the current President of the Group for Political Change (GPC). She was amongst women such as Elizabeth Araiti Ponga and Lynnsay Francis who led a wave of public protest in November 2002 because the Cook Islands was about to have its fifth coalition government in three years. Both Tere Carr and Elizabeth Ponga stood as Independent MPs in the 2004 elections.
Reflections of an Independent Candidate for Women in Politics Workshop – April 2006
In November 2002, when I began working with the GPC, it had never entered my mind that I should stand as a candidate in a general election. Our role was to provide a forum for voter education through the medium of radio and TV for a public who had come to realize that their views on important issues were being disregarded by MPs. Time and time again, the public’s call for political reform was ignored by parliament. No amount of grandstanding from the sidelines would influence MPs to heed the call for political reform, as many of them had become comfortable with the self-serving lifestyle politics offered. It appeared that listening to the public was not high on their agenda.
With the general elections some 9 months away, supporters of our GPC radio talkback asked Elizabeth Ponga and myself to stand as candidates in the September 2004 elections as people wanted to have a choice other than the traditional two party candidates. “We’ve heard what you are about and what you stand for, so why don’t you walk the talk and give us an option”, they asked.
In March 2004 I met my constituency MP, who was a Minister of the Crown at the time, to tell him that I was considering standing as an independent candidate in the coming elections. I told him that my focus was on political reform rather than constituency issues, and that more money needed to be spent in areas such as health and education, as matters of first importance for any nation. I re-iterated the fact that some people in our constituency did not want to vote for either party and had asked me to stand so that at least they had another choice. He asked how many people would support my issues-based stance and I guessed (very hopefully) that at least 80 people would be prepared to step outside the square and vote for an Independent member. He wished me luck at the polls and with a smile, said he did not see me as a threat to him retaining his seat at the elections.
Two days later I received a phone call to meet with my MP again as he had something important to tell me. As I sat in his office, he said that he had thought over what we had spoken about previously and wanted to ask if I was willing to step aside and not stand in the up-coming elections. He promised that should he win the seat again, he would stand down at the next elections after that and recommend to his committee that I be selected as his successor. I must admit to being surprised by his offer - it was as if the title of MP was like a title of royalty that one passed down to next in line. I re-emphasized the fact that I was standing for reform issues and was not interested in sacrificing those principles to tow the party line.
I gave my MP one month to publicly support the call for reform within his party, which at that time was the government. “People in our constituency will respect your stance”, I said “and there would be no need for me to stand as the reason people were supporting me was because of my political reform stance”. A month passed and I had heard nothing to indicate that my MP was going to go public in support of political reform. It was time to announce my decision to stand as a candidate and so in May 2004 I wrote an article for a couple of newspapers stating my reasons for standing. I was also able to use our radio talkback and TV interviews to inform the public that I was going to put my money where my mouth was.
The backlash from MPs was immediate. On May 31st 2004 at the final parliamentary sitting before the elections, a prominent member of parliament spoke publicly over national radio saying to other MPs, ”Can I tell you a joke? One of the candidates standing as an independent declared that she will not insult the electors of her village by offering them drinks and barbeques in order to gain favour. Well I have news for her, there are hundreds of voters in that village wanting to be insulted. So to that ambitious candidate, don’t kid yourself. You are just mean and miserable you don’t want to shout them, that’s why you are saying you don’t want to insult them. He went on to say the most an independent candidate could expect was 5 votes at the polling booth. As I listened to the radio in the car park of my children’s school and heard the mocking laughter from MPs in the house, I realized the knives were out and the “old boy network” in parliament was not going to allow any political outsider to come along and threaten their club. It certainly was not going to be a smooth ride.
Right, I thought, 5 votes is a good starting point but if I wanted to do better than that then I needed to do some serious work. Without the support of party propaganda and finance, the best form of campaigning available to me was to knock on doors and meet the people in my constituency face-to-face. I put a pamphlet together to hand out to voters and my trusty printer churned out pages and pages of my homemade pamphlet. And so it began, the knocking on doors while the heart is doing one hundred miles an hour as I had no idea whether doors would be slammed in my face or whether people would sit and listen to what I had to offer. While many had heard me on radio and seen me on TV, actually meeting voters is a different experience, as when you meet people you really are at their mercy. But I was surprised to find that I was the first candidate to ever visit some people in their homes as the party system relied on blind support from longstanding supporters and their families. I naively assumed that door-to-door campaigning was the normal way of doing things.
Early in my campaign, one well-meaning voter told me that Cook Islanders are like sheep. “You round them up in a tractor”, he said, “and feed and water them (with food and alcohol) until Election Day and I guarantee you, they will vote for you!” The thing was I had made my campaign an issues-based one and was hoping there were those who valued better health and education for all Cook Islanders more than the food and alcohol being offered by party candidates. The significance of the tractor didn’t hit home until one woman said to me, “I have a field that needs to be ploughed, if you do it, you will get my vote.” Now I understood why my fellow male candidates used tractors as their mode of transport within the village as a ploughed field in exchange for a vote was a fair deal as far as my opponents were concerned.
As I continued my door-to-door campaign, I was fortunate to receive donations from people who lived outside my constituency but who supported the work I was doing. I was able to use this money to pay for a couple of TV ads using the slogan “enough is enough”. This combined well with the GPC radio talkback, which continued almost up to Election Day and ensured that people knew about my issues-based campaign before I knocked on their door. It broke down many barriers and I believe that the media and our use of it had prepared groundwork for me to be well received by many voters in my constituency.
It is sad though to say that the most opposition I received in my village came from women, both young and old, who believed I had no place being a candidate. You’re too young, you haven’t done enough community service or joined any sewing groups, you should be at home looking after your children and so on. I wondered if the same pre-requisite was required of my male counterparts or was it enough that they had been were born a male. While women are the workhorses of the party movement cooking endless meals to feed voters, it also seemed as if they had been conditioned to be resentful and negative to other women like myself who had the courage to stand up for what we believe in.
One mama said that although she loved what I did on radio and agreed with my reform views she couldn’t vote for me because it would upset her parents who were founders of her party. On asking where her parents were, the 75-year old mama replied that although they had died, they would know if she didn’t vote for the party. Whoever had said that people would vote for a coconut that had a party name written on it must have had an experience like this.
Finally, Election Day arrived and my campaigning efforts would be put to the real test. Early that morning, well before booths had opened, party supporters picked up voters and took them to their headquarters for breakfast before taking them to the polling booths to vote. With such pressure put on people by the parties, all I could hope for was that some of my supporters would keep their word and vote for me. For some people, a change in government would mean loss of jobs for those who had acquired political positions within the public sector. It is a vicious cycle that puts immense pressure on voters to stick with the party system.
Later that night, when the results were announced, I was pleased to receive over 100 votes which was a lot more than the 5 predicted. I gave people an alternative and they had responded. Although the sitting MP won by a small margin of 8 votes on the night, he later lost his seat to the other party candidate due to his being convicted of bribery and corruption charges. Throughout the whole campaign, I had never thought of myself as a woman fighting for a seat in parliament. I was just glad I had been able to show people that change starts when someone takes a stand to challenge the status quo and to fight for equality for all people, regardless of party affiliations.
In summary, without the use of the media I would not have been able to bring issues into peoples homes. While few candidates of the main parties ran individual TV campaigns, the parties themselves used this medium extensively to churn out their propaganda. It was quite noticeable in my constituency that both party candidates increased their use of TV ads as election date drew closer. I took that as a compliment and found satisfaction in the fact that my opponents had to spend more money on advertising to counter the effect of my campaign.
As you can see, my campaign was more than collecting enough votes in my constituency to win a seat in parliament. It was also a deliberate attempt to focus voter attention on issues that affect our nation, rather than just our constituency. And long after the elections have gone, the GPC is still respected today for their political reform stance. Our continual effort to effectively harness the power of the media will ensure that one day our parliament will be a place where MPs, whether they be male or female, will value the people of our nation more than they value their own self-interests.
And as for the prominent MP who stated I needed to offer food and drink to voters, I’m proud to say I did not spend one cent, but he on the other hand was outspent with the winning candidate in his constituency spending over $70,000 to receive about 70 votes and a seat in parliament.
BACKGROUND TO GPC: The GPC believed that “fundamental democratic principles” were being eroded by the various factions within government who were opposed to each other because of leadership clashes. There had been no consultation with the public.
The GPC used the 1998 Political Review Commission Report as a starting point to address the most pressing issues for Political Reform in this country. They led a march on parliament and the then Prime Minister, Robert Woonton, responded by saying they would initiate reform within 2 weeks, however this did not happen. A media awareness campaign followed and in March 2003 a petition with over 2000 signatures was presented to government calling for amongst other things:
Recently, in response to public request, the GPC resumed its advocacy and awareness campaign and public debate to push for further political reform. The GPC have found that many of the issues raised by the 1998 Political Review Commission are just as relevant today as they were 8 years ago.
Florence Syme-Buchanan: A journalist and media consultant for over 20 years; she was one of the Cook Islands youngest published writers, and went on to lead public relations for the Cook Islands government when it was still very much a male stronghold, and at a time when she provided the only example of women in leadership in the media. She is passionate about seeing Pacific island women politicians taking the helm and steering towards developing better relationships with the media in their countries, and in particular, to benefit from being advocates of freedom of information approaches to transparent; accountable governance.
Florence Syme Buchanan: how to handle information and the media
Kia Orana,
I believe that we all have a duty to speak with candor during this conference, otherwise, it will have been a waste of time.
This presentation is based on my 20 plus years of experience in Pacific islands media as a journalist and media consultant. Allow me to be so bold as to say that these views are shared generally by all experienced media workers, whether they be involved in print, broadcast or the electronic media.
These views are given with the best of intentions and the sincere hope that perhaps it will help inspire better relations between politicians and the media, a better understanding of the work that we media people do, how we can help you in your work and how you yourselves can improve on the delivery of good governance in your respective countries.
Let us start at the beginning of a woman’s journey into politics. And let me emphasise that this applies to both women and men. At the outset, all know that the best way of getting their views, political platforms and ideas across is through the media. At this point in time, candidates love the media because of the publicity and exposure the media can give them. And so, the media is the candidate’s useful friend. A reporter’s phone is constantly ringing with candidates wishing to have their say – to get their message across. It’s a pretty good relationship.
But once elected, that once very useful media friend nearly always becomes the enemy -- and the media in general becomes regarded with fear and loathing by politicians. The media networking that was so important at the outset is discarded. In that respect, women are no different from men. I believe this dramatic change in attitude is due to the culture of secrecy that surrounds our Pacific island governments. The less the people know about what government is doing, the better – no hard questions from reporters – much better.
But allow me to remind our women politicians that NO ONE has the range and variety of contacts as the media. NO ONE asks as many difficult questions as the media – and this is not a bad thing as the media have a duty to pursue the truth and keep the public informed. NO ONE can give you an inside look at the development and governance issues as they exist right now as the media. It is true that the media does NOT have the whole picture. But they do have an inside picture that NO ONE else has.
News media are always asking questions. Every day, they go around, asking people about what the facts are and what their opinions are about those facts. But very few people come and interview the media about what they see as the facts and what their opinions are. Putting all these important points together and politicians can have a significant ally who has a good idea of what the issues are and can provide independent, valuable viewpoints that you can make use of.
An independent source who has a “finger on the pulse.”
Case in point: Being interviewed by representatives from foreign embassies in the lead-up to election time. They wanted a clear, independent picture of what was happening in politics. They did not go to the politicians or political groups – they went to the media.
When politicians are in the opposition, they want the state radio and TV to be open and transparent to the opposition. When politicians are in government, they want the state radio and television to only reflect government views. Stop political interference in state broadcasting: instead, protect the independence of your state broadcaster. Become a strategic partner with state broadcasters and ask them how you can help make them or keep them independent. That independence is crucial is being able to deliver accurate factual information to the public.
If you are attacked by someone in the media, try not to take it personally. This is the time when you should get extra friendly with that reporter. Invite them for coffee. Talk about the issues. Get their opinion. Ask them what they think. Then hold a press conference and use what you have learnt to acknowledge the criticism and respond to it constructively.
Use criticism of your party or government to illustrate challenges faced by women. Ask whether these issues would exist if women were given more equal treatment and a more equal share of power and resources.
Use any facts and figures you can lay your hands on: get on the Statistics Office mailing list. If you are talking about jobs for women, quote statistics about how big Gross Domestic Product is. Ask questions like: how much of GDP went to women? If we don't know know, ask why not? Are we invisible?
Point to gaps in national statistics: where are the specifics on womens health issues? Where are the details on pay for women?
For example, here in the Cook Islands, there are some general health stats on the internet. But detailed health stats are unavailable to the media and the ordinary person. National breast cancer figures will not be released, instead we have rumours of non-smoking teenage women, even men, developing breast cancer on the island of Mangaia. The travel figures racked up each year by politicians are kept secret here. Why? The media can only surmise --- breast cancer figures would be bad for our tourism, what politicians spend each year on travel would receive widespread public criticism.
It is important that you build bridges with the media by becoming an information advocate: support calls for Freedom of Information legislation. Why Freedom of Information?
Like everyone else, women politicians need to have ready access to information. This helps them make informed decisions and prepare good Parliamentary arguments/cases and helps you avoid being accused of being emotional.
One of the biggest criticisms of the media is that it reports rumours and gossip: so help the media get the facts instead. Support FOI legislation -- it makes for more honest, transparent governments. Each woman politician has the ability to push for FOI in their respective countries. Do it now and historians in time will record your efforts to build better governments, more informed societies. Freedom of Information, sometimes known as Officianl Information Acts would make a huge difference in Pacific island countries in that a disclosure regime would do away with rumour mongering and the culture of government secrecy. To build a better society, governments have to be open with official information and realise that information belongs to the people, not the administrations
A lack of FOI leads to lack of transparency and accountability which leads to a lack of level playing fields for women with men being able to keep things twisted to their advantage. With an FOI women would better be able to keep men playing by the rules instead of having to compromise all the time because of dirty politics.
Political rumour mongering is rife in the Pacific – FOI helps do away with that. If men have to operate in the open it again helps keep a level playing field for all in politics.
Finally, ask for media training. Respect the role of the media. You have a job to do as a women in politics. So do women - and men - in the media. Find out about their job, why they love it, and what you can do to make their job easier.
If the media makes a mistake, don't take it personally. If the media reports unfair criticism, don't take it personally. Curse and swear and cry in private but in public show the media and everyone else how calm you can be under fire. As Pacific Islanders we know how to joke and tease - don't stop!
Think like a reporter: what are the facts? Where can I find the facts? Who is keeping the facts secret? If there are no facts, or not enough facts, join the media by publicly calling for Freedom of Information legislation and for transparency and accountability in government.
In Conclusion: we started talking about networking: as you network with the media and ask them questions, you become a real person to them, not just a distant political candidate. Reporters are like anyone else: they are nicer to the people they know.
Kia manuia
Vaine Iriano Wichman, MP – is a daughter of the nation who served the region, and then returned home to serve her country. Now a development consultant when she is not on select committees for parliament amongst her other duties as a member, she is a former social economist with the SPC in Noumea; with her skills still taking her abroad from her Cook Islands base.
Introduction
Aim – to share an experience, on how I ran for and won my seat
Media means the channel to communicate information to the people/public.
In my first attempt at this game (2003):
In my second attempt, it was no longer a game just to play; it was a game to win (2004):
Now in Parliament:
Small words of advice to sum up:
Kia orana e kia manuia
Jason Brown has been a journalist in the Cook Islands since 1982; and has gone from print to television to publishing online while freelancing and serving as the Cook Islands correspondant for IBI. He notes that the first country in the world to give women the vote was not New Zealand in 1893 but the Cook Islands, just a few years before. However he also notes that when the resident commissioner changed, women in the Cook Islands also lost the vote and that the lesson to be learnt is not just making things change but making change stick.
In 2002, I had the very great fortune to accompany a young woman from Tahiti to a world conference on hiv.aids with 15,000 other delegates.
It was an overwhelming experience for someone brought up on a small island – big crowds, big governments, companies and big issues.
And that was just me from the sidelines!
I think you’ve all heard of Maire Bopp Dupont. In 2002, as the representative for the world’s small communities, Maire had to give a speech in front of 12,000 people at the closing ceremonies of the 14th World AIDS Conference.
At those ceremonies, Maire was on stage with just three other people: the conference chairman, Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela. Hugely powerful men, who arrived in limousines with dark tinted windows and a staff of a dozen or me each.
Maire had me, her bag boy and media puppy.
As a former journalist, Maire Bopp Dupont also knew the power of information. Before the closing ceremonies she told me that she wanted to say something about military spending and to compare it with spending on AIDS.
So I went onto the BBC news site and tracked down spending for the American armed forces. If I recall correctly, I think it was US$394 billion. Maire compared this with the US$10 billion being asked for AIDS.
As Maire was speaking, I was watching Bill Clinton who had his legs stretched out and his chin resting on his hand, listening carefully. When Maire got to the bit about the US$394 billion I saw Clinton give a kind of a twitch and I thought – uh oh – he didn’t like that bit!
But I thought to myself - he could not argue with what Maire had said because she had the facts.
I think there are two important points here.
One point is that women in politics can use facts and figures reported by the media to strengthen their statements and their policy statements. It shows you are in touch. It shows that you listen to other points of view. It shows that you are accountable to what is happening in your community.
It shows that you’re not too busy or important to read the same news as everyone else!
If I want to know more about a current issue, I not only look on the web. I also use a service like Google News to send me daily headlines. I don’t read everything but every now and then a headline will catch my eye and that will help give me background and keep me up to date.
Keeping an eye on the headlines also gives you a feel for what is happening internationally and, most importantly, how issues and efforts in your own country fit in on the global stage.
Last week, I bought a copy of Time magazine because of the headline and what it said about the environment: Be worried. Be very worried.
Now the more news and information you take in from the media, the more you get a feeling – an “intuition” that women are supposed to be famous for – and that men call by the less flowery name of a “gut” instinct – the more you get a feeling for how the world is changing around you and how that effects your country.
What this means is that women can use the media, to USE the NEWS to pick an issue and run with it, to become known as the main person in your community, your party, your country, to talk about this one issue.
Right now, for example, as a journalist, I can think of few better issues for women in politics than the one raised by Time. They are saying that global warming is no vague notion. That it global warming and sea level rise is not something that will affect our kids or their kids, but ourselves in our life times.
As I researched online for this presentation, I asked Google News to find me articles on gender, women and the environment. Most of the 600 or more articles were about the working environment for women rather than women working for the environment.
But I went through zip zip zip scanning all 600 headlines as quickly as I could and limiting myself only to headlines that were very obviously about women and the global environment. All 600 headlines. It took me about half an hour and I got about a dozen articles.
Three of those articles pointed to different aspects of a storm that is brewing in gender politics and the United Nations. There is growing pressure on the United Nations to recognise the fact
> that only 16% of its under secretaries are women.
> that no woman has ever been secretary general
> that no women were on the list for the new director of the United Nations Environment Programme
> that women’s programmes are scattered around under a half dozen or so divisions and that women do not have their own.
In fact you could say that these gender politics are brewing up into what Hollywood calls the Perfect Storm!
But these areas are being well covered at this workshop.
What I am trying to point out is that women in politics can use the media to keep informing themselves about issues like these after this workshop ends and the next one begins.
Which leads me to my second important point:
That you don’t need to be a women in politics to make a difference as a women to politics. Or to have a huge staff of advisers.
I still remember Barcelona and how Bill Clinton got up to speak after Maire had finished talking, including about all the spending on the US Military.
His notes were ready and his speech was all prepared. As he read from his speech notes he referred to the tragedy of 911 and the fact that 3,000 people died on that day – but that many more people die of AIDS every day. He also referred to the fact that the costs of fighting terror in Afghanistan would pay the annual AIDS bill in just a few weeks.
It was then that I realised that Bill Clinton had twitched during Maire’s speech not because he disagreed with what she was saying but that she had had the same idea as he had – and had the facts and figures to back it up.
She was a woman from a small island state who used the power of the media to help make her point to a global audience.
Tereapii Carr is a founding member and the current President of the Group for Political Change (GPC). She was amongst women such as Elizabeth Araiti Ponga and Lynnsay Francis who led a wave of public protest in November 2002 because the Cook Islands was about to have its fifth coalition government in three years. Both Tere Carr and Elizabeth Ponga stood as Independent MPs in the 2004 elections.
Reflections of an Independent Candidate for Women in Politics Workshop – April 2006
In November 2002, when I began working with the GPC, it had never entered my mind that I should stand as a candidate in a general election. Our role was to provide a forum for voter education through the medium of radio and TV for a public who had come to realize that their views on important issues were being disregarded by MPs. Time and time again, the public’s call for political reform was ignored by parliament. No amount of grandstanding from the sidelines would influence MPs to heed the call for political reform, as many of them had become comfortable with the self-serving lifestyle politics offered. It appeared that listening to the public was not high on their agenda.
With the general elections some 9 months away, supporters of our GPC radio talkback asked Elizabeth Ponga and myself to stand as candidates in the September 2004 elections as people wanted to have a choice other than the traditional two party candidates. “We’ve heard what you are about and what you stand for, so why don’t you walk the talk and give us an option”, they asked.
In March 2004 I met my constituency MP, who was a Minister of the Crown at the time, to tell him that I was considering standing as an independent candidate in the coming elections. I told him that my focus was on political reform rather than constituency issues, and that more money needed to be spent in areas such as health and education, as matters of first importance for any nation. I re-iterated the fact that some people in our constituency did not want to vote for either party and had asked me to stand so that at least they had another choice. He asked how many people would support my issues-based stance and I guessed (very hopefully) that at least 80 people would be prepared to step outside the square and vote for an Independent member. He wished me luck at the polls and with a smile, said he did not see me as a threat to him retaining his seat at the elections.
Two days later I received a phone call to meet with my MP again as he had something important to tell me. As I sat in his office, he said that he had thought over what we had spoken about previously and wanted to ask if I was willing to step aside and not stand in the up-coming elections. He promised that should he win the seat again, he would stand down at the next elections after that and recommend to his committee that I be selected as his successor. I must admit to being surprised by his offer - it was as if the title of MP was like a title of royalty that one passed down to next in line. I re-emphasized the fact that I was standing for reform issues and was not interested in sacrificing those principles to tow the party line.
I gave my MP one month to publicly support the call for reform within his party, which at that time was the government. “People in our constituency will respect your stance”, I said “and there would be no need for me to stand as the reason people were supporting me was because of my political reform stance”. A month passed and I had heard nothing to indicate that my MP was going to go public in support of political reform. It was time to announce my decision to stand as a candidate and so in May 2004 I wrote an article for a couple of newspapers stating my reasons for standing. I was also able to use our radio talkback and TV interviews to inform the public that I was going to put my money where my mouth was.
The backlash from MPs was immediate. On May 31st 2004 at the final parliamentary sitting before the elections, a prominent member of parliament spoke publicly over national radio saying to other MPs, ”Can I tell you a joke? One of the candidates standing as an independent declared that she will not insult the electors of her village by offering them drinks and barbeques in order to gain favour. Well I have news for her, there are hundreds of voters in that village wanting to be insulted. So to that ambitious candidate, don’t kid yourself. You are just mean and miserable you don’t want to shout them, that’s why you are saying you don’t want to insult them. He went on to say the most an independent candidate could expect was 5 votes at the polling booth. As I listened to the radio in the car park of my children’s school and heard the mocking laughter from MPs in the house, I realized the knives were out and the “old boy network” in parliament was not going to allow any political outsider to come along and threaten their club. It certainly was not going to be a smooth ride.
Right, I thought, 5 votes is a good starting point but if I wanted to do better than that then I needed to do some serious work. Without the support of party propaganda and finance, the best form of campaigning available to me was to knock on doors and meet the people in my constituency face-to-face. I put a pamphlet together to hand out to voters and my trusty printer churned out pages and pages of my homemade pamphlet. And so it began, the knocking on doors while the heart is doing one hundred miles an hour as I had no idea whether doors would be slammed in my face or whether people would sit and listen to what I had to offer. While many had heard me on radio and seen me on TV, actually meeting voters is a different experience, as when you meet people you really are at their mercy. But I was surprised to find that I was the first candidate to ever visit some people in their homes as the party system relied on blind support from longstanding supporters and their families. I naively assumed that door-to-door campaigning was the normal way of doing things.
Early in my campaign, one well-meaning voter told me that Cook Islanders are like sheep. “You round them up in a tractor”, he said, “and feed and water them (with food and alcohol) until Election Day and I guarantee you, they will vote for you!” The thing was I had made my campaign an issues-based one and was hoping there were those who valued better health and education for all Cook Islanders more than the food and alcohol being offered by party candidates. The significance of the tractor didn’t hit home until one woman said to me, “I have a field that needs to be ploughed, if you do it, you will get my vote.” Now I understood why my fellow male candidates used tractors as their mode of transport within the village as a ploughed field in exchange for a vote was a fair deal as far as my opponents were concerned.
As I continued my door-to-door campaign, I was fortunate to receive donations from people who lived outside my constituency but who supported the work I was doing. I was able to use this money to pay for a couple of TV ads using the slogan “enough is enough”. This combined well with the GPC radio talkback, which continued almost up to Election Day and ensured that people knew about my issues-based campaign before I knocked on their door. It broke down many barriers and I believe that the media and our use of it had prepared groundwork for me to be well received by many voters in my constituency.
It is sad though to say that the most opposition I received in my village came from women, both young and old, who believed I had no place being a candidate. You’re too young, you haven’t done enough community service or joined any sewing groups, you should be at home looking after your children and so on. I wondered if the same pre-requisite was required of my male counterparts or was it enough that they had been were born a male. While women are the workhorses of the party movement cooking endless meals to feed voters, it also seemed as if they had been conditioned to be resentful and negative to other women like myself who had the courage to stand up for what we believe in.
One mama said that although she loved what I did on radio and agreed with my reform views she couldn’t vote for me because it would upset her parents who were founders of her party. On asking where her parents were, the 75-year old mama replied that although they had died, they would know if she didn’t vote for the party. Whoever had said that people would vote for a coconut that had a party name written on it must have had an experience like this.
Finally, Election Day arrived and my campaigning efforts would be put to the real test. Early that morning, well before booths had opened, party supporters picked up voters and took them to their headquarters for breakfast before taking them to the polling booths to vote. With such pressure put on people by the parties, all I could hope for was that some of my supporters would keep their word and vote for me. For some people, a change in government would mean loss of jobs for those who had acquired political positions within the public sector. It is a vicious cycle that puts immense pressure on voters to stick with the party system.
Later that night, when the results were announced, I was pleased to receive over 100 votes which was a lot more than the 5 predicted. I gave people an alternative and they had responded. Although the sitting MP won by a small margin of 8 votes on the night, he later lost his seat to the other party candidate due to his being convicted of bribery and corruption charges. Throughout the whole campaign, I had never thought of myself as a woman fighting for a seat in parliament. I was just glad I had been able to show people that change starts when someone takes a stand to challenge the status quo and to fight for equality for all people, regardless of party affiliations.
In summary, without the use of the media I would not have been able to bring issues into peoples homes. While few candidates of the main parties ran individual TV campaigns, the parties themselves used this medium extensively to churn out their propaganda. It was quite noticeable in my constituency that both party candidates increased their use of TV ads as election date drew closer. I took that as a compliment and found satisfaction in the fact that my opponents had to spend more money on advertising to counter the effect of my campaign.
As you can see, my campaign was more than collecting enough votes in my constituency to win a seat in parliament. It was also a deliberate attempt to focus voter attention on issues that affect our nation, rather than just our constituency. And long after the elections have gone, the GPC is still respected today for their political reform stance. Our continual effort to effectively harness the power of the media will ensure that one day our parliament will be a place where MPs, whether they be male or female, will value the people of our nation more than they value their own self-interests.
And as for the prominent MP who stated I needed to offer food and drink to voters, I’m proud to say I did not spend one cent, but he on the other hand was outspent with the winning candidate in his constituency spending over $70,000 to receive about 70 votes and a seat in parliament.
BACKGROUND TO GPC: The GPC believed that “fundamental democratic principles” were being eroded by the various factions within government who were opposed to each other because of leadership clashes. There had been no consultation with the public.
The GPC used the 1998 Political Review Commission Report as a starting point to address the most pressing issues for Political Reform in this country. They led a march on parliament and the then Prime Minister, Robert Woonton, responded by saying they would initiate reform within 2 weeks, however this did not happen. A media awareness campaign followed and in March 2003 a petition with over 2000 signatures was presented to government calling for amongst other things:
- The abolition of the current MP Superannuation Scheme
- Abolition of the overseas seat
- Reduction in the term of parliament from 5 years to 3 years
Recently, in response to public request, the GPC resumed its advocacy and awareness campaign and public debate to push for further political reform. The GPC have found that many of the issues raised by the 1998 Political Review Commission are just as relevant today as they were 8 years ago.
Florence Syme-Buchanan: A journalist and media consultant for over 20 years; she was one of the Cook Islands youngest published writers, and went on to lead public relations for the Cook Islands government when it was still very much a male stronghold, and at a time when she provided the only example of women in leadership in the media. She is passionate about seeing Pacific island women politicians taking the helm and steering towards developing better relationships with the media in their countries, and in particular, to benefit from being advocates of freedom of information approaches to transparent; accountable governance.
Florence Syme Buchanan: how to handle information and the media
Kia Orana,
I believe that we all have a duty to speak with candor during this conference, otherwise, it will have been a waste of time.
This presentation is based on my 20 plus years of experience in Pacific islands media as a journalist and media consultant. Allow me to be so bold as to say that these views are shared generally by all experienced media workers, whether they be involved in print, broadcast or the electronic media.
These views are given with the best of intentions and the sincere hope that perhaps it will help inspire better relations between politicians and the media, a better understanding of the work that we media people do, how we can help you in your work and how you yourselves can improve on the delivery of good governance in your respective countries.
Let us start at the beginning of a woman’s journey into politics. And let me emphasise that this applies to both women and men. At the outset, all know that the best way of getting their views, political platforms and ideas across is through the media. At this point in time, candidates love the media because of the publicity and exposure the media can give them. And so, the media is the candidate’s useful friend. A reporter’s phone is constantly ringing with candidates wishing to have their say – to get their message across. It’s a pretty good relationship.
But once elected, that once very useful media friend nearly always becomes the enemy -- and the media in general becomes regarded with fear and loathing by politicians. The media networking that was so important at the outset is discarded. In that respect, women are no different from men. I believe this dramatic change in attitude is due to the culture of secrecy that surrounds our Pacific island governments. The less the people know about what government is doing, the better – no hard questions from reporters – much better.
But allow me to remind our women politicians that NO ONE has the range and variety of contacts as the media. NO ONE asks as many difficult questions as the media – and this is not a bad thing as the media have a duty to pursue the truth and keep the public informed. NO ONE can give you an inside look at the development and governance issues as they exist right now as the media. It is true that the media does NOT have the whole picture. But they do have an inside picture that NO ONE else has.
News media are always asking questions. Every day, they go around, asking people about what the facts are and what their opinions are about those facts. But very few people come and interview the media about what they see as the facts and what their opinions are. Putting all these important points together and politicians can have a significant ally who has a good idea of what the issues are and can provide independent, valuable viewpoints that you can make use of.
An independent source who has a “finger on the pulse.”
Case in point: Being interviewed by representatives from foreign embassies in the lead-up to election time. They wanted a clear, independent picture of what was happening in politics. They did not go to the politicians or political groups – they went to the media.
When politicians are in the opposition, they want the state radio and TV to be open and transparent to the opposition. When politicians are in government, they want the state radio and television to only reflect government views. Stop political interference in state broadcasting: instead, protect the independence of your state broadcaster. Become a strategic partner with state broadcasters and ask them how you can help make them or keep them independent. That independence is crucial is being able to deliver accurate factual information to the public.
If you are attacked by someone in the media, try not to take it personally. This is the time when you should get extra friendly with that reporter. Invite them for coffee. Talk about the issues. Get their opinion. Ask them what they think. Then hold a press conference and use what you have learnt to acknowledge the criticism and respond to it constructively.
Use criticism of your party or government to illustrate challenges faced by women. Ask whether these issues would exist if women were given more equal treatment and a more equal share of power and resources.
Use any facts and figures you can lay your hands on: get on the Statistics Office mailing list. If you are talking about jobs for women, quote statistics about how big Gross Domestic Product is. Ask questions like: how much of GDP went to women? If we don't know know, ask why not? Are we invisible?
Point to gaps in national statistics: where are the specifics on womens health issues? Where are the details on pay for women?
For example, here in the Cook Islands, there are some general health stats on the internet. But detailed health stats are unavailable to the media and the ordinary person. National breast cancer figures will not be released, instead we have rumours of non-smoking teenage women, even men, developing breast cancer on the island of Mangaia. The travel figures racked up each year by politicians are kept secret here. Why? The media can only surmise --- breast cancer figures would be bad for our tourism, what politicians spend each year on travel would receive widespread public criticism.
It is important that you build bridges with the media by becoming an information advocate: support calls for Freedom of Information legislation. Why Freedom of Information?
Like everyone else, women politicians need to have ready access to information. This helps them make informed decisions and prepare good Parliamentary arguments/cases and helps you avoid being accused of being emotional.
One of the biggest criticisms of the media is that it reports rumours and gossip: so help the media get the facts instead. Support FOI legislation -- it makes for more honest, transparent governments. Each woman politician has the ability to push for FOI in their respective countries. Do it now and historians in time will record your efforts to build better governments, more informed societies. Freedom of Information, sometimes known as Officianl Information Acts would make a huge difference in Pacific island countries in that a disclosure regime would do away with rumour mongering and the culture of government secrecy. To build a better society, governments have to be open with official information and realise that information belongs to the people, not the administrations
A lack of FOI leads to lack of transparency and accountability which leads to a lack of level playing fields for women with men being able to keep things twisted to their advantage. With an FOI women would better be able to keep men playing by the rules instead of having to compromise all the time because of dirty politics.
Political rumour mongering is rife in the Pacific – FOI helps do away with that. If men have to operate in the open it again helps keep a level playing field for all in politics.
Finally, ask for media training. Respect the role of the media. You have a job to do as a women in politics. So do women - and men - in the media. Find out about their job, why they love it, and what you can do to make their job easier.
If the media makes a mistake, don't take it personally. If the media reports unfair criticism, don't take it personally. Curse and swear and cry in private but in public show the media and everyone else how calm you can be under fire. As Pacific Islanders we know how to joke and tease - don't stop!
Think like a reporter: what are the facts? Where can I find the facts? Who is keeping the facts secret? If there are no facts, or not enough facts, join the media by publicly calling for Freedom of Information legislation and for transparency and accountability in government.
In Conclusion: we started talking about networking: as you network with the media and ask them questions, you become a real person to them, not just a distant political candidate. Reporters are like anyone else: they are nicer to the people they know.
Kia manuia
Vaine Iriano Wichman, MP – is a daughter of the nation who served the region, and then returned home to serve her country. Now a development consultant when she is not on select committees for parliament amongst her other duties as a member, she is a former social economist with the SPC in Noumea; with her skills still taking her abroad from her Cook Islands base.
Introduction
Aim – to share an experience, on how I ran for and won my seat
Media means the channel to communicate information to the people/public.
In my first attempt at this game (2003):
- Maybe there was too much overdrive on the use of the media tool (newspaper, tv, radio) to do something I already had in me, but didn’t think to use (you don’t want to know how much I spent)
In my second attempt, it was no longer a game just to play; it was a game to win (2004):
- Media avenues were already friendly and cooperated with women candidates (free) (5%)
- The media strategy of my campaign. No posters. Headquarters looked after the radio and newspaper appearances and stories. I looked after the only TV ad I ever had. (Spent from myself -$1,500) (5%)
- I didn’t have to fight or promote issues as most Cook Islanders are aware of my monthly economy column, which I have been writing for the newspaper since I resigned from Government in 1998 to set up my consulting company, definitely reflect issues that belong to the people (free, apart from my time and the experience I was sharing) (10%)
- My committee looked after the converted through the fund raising events and BBQs (lots of donations from supporters, mainly foodstuff (live pigs and kits of food!!!) which were raffled off to fill our Ruaau party coffers (by the beginning of the official campaign period we had $20,000 to use for party social activities and projects, we used half on two projects – Ruaau clinic and water filter for Arorangi School, and the other half the Party executive used to organize social evenings where we still made money from donations to our bar and sale of plates of food) (40%)
- My main media strategy. Sitting down in the non-friendly party homes and telling real stories until one of us gave in. (40%)
Now in Parliament:
- Never have had to foster any relationship with the formal media channels, experience in another life has taught me how to work with them;
- Have changed my emphasis now to always represent the whole story, or the whole environment, rather than a party line or a personal view;
- Continue to write my economy columns for the sake of keeping me focused on the social and economic principles that are important in this country;
- Make time to wander and work in the community whether supporting women at a village function, fundraising, school activities, or wider community/family functions (my way of keeping on the pulse of how well or how sick the community is);
Small words of advice to sum up:
- Do unto others as you would want done to you.
- Media is a channel to share information to the people. Make sure your information is true.
- Learn to share and tell stories – talking, writing, and drawing.
- Keep your word. Keep your word.
- Speak your truth gently, kindly
- The first duty of love is to listen
Kia orana e kia manuia
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