opening speech | minister mau munukoa

Kia orana

I am privileged to be here today to address you at the start of your workshop.  I am glad to see that you all made it safely to the Cook Islands.

You have come from far and wide to address a subject of great interest in our country and around the Pacific.  I am pleased to say that your attendance is a good response to a growing call for women to become agents of change in our communities.  

The Pacific Forum had invited my Prime Minister to open this workshop.

But he cannot be here because he is fulfilling an engagement on the island of Atiu that normally would have fallen to me as Minister of Sports – except that I wanted to be here in Rarotonga to support the objectives of this workshop.

The invitation then passed to the Deputy Prime Minister but he said to me “Aunty Mau you are a senior Cabinet Minister, a former Deputy Prime Minister, and a woman.  You have to welcome our visitors.”

So now I stand before you this morning to convey the very best wishes of the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister and all my colleagues in Cabinet to you for an enjoyable and fruitful workshop.

When I look back on the history of Parliament in the Cook Islands which stretches back 41 years, I can observe I am only the third women parliamentarian and just the second women to serve in Cabinet.  And that Vaine Wichman who is representing the Cook Islands at this workshop is just our fifth and newest woman Member of Parliament.

I am sad to say the representation of women in Parliament in the Cook Islands has been few and far between, and it’s the same picture in other parts of the world.  In my personal view, this is a very good reason why workshops such as this one must be held to encourage more and more women to have a go at getting into Parliament.

Despite my country’s record, I’m actually quite positive about the status of women in the Cook Islands.  We are present at every level of society and I am confident more women will enter Parliament as we go forward.  But if we do, I will say it won’t be because we are a woman.  That is not relevant.  It will be because we have demonstrated in one way or another to the voters that we can improve people’s lives in our community or country.

When I observe that the numbers of women in Parliament here and in other countries are small, I remind myself of the verse in Matthew Chapter 7 in which the Lord says do not despair because faith, even the size of mustard seeds, will move mountains.  

My message today is that the number of women in our Parliaments may be small like the size of mustard seeds, but with faith in the Lord and belief in ourselves we will still move mountains.

Thank you.  Best of luck and God bless you all.