OFFICE OF THE OMBUDSMAN, SAMOA Samoa’s Second Universal Periodic Review 3 Promotion and protection of human rights on the ground 3.1 Women 12. Samoa is to be commended for its efforts to advance the status of women and protect and promote their rights. Notably, Samoa will enforce a 10% quota for women parliamentarians during the 2016 election.14 However, the realisation of women’s rights in Samoa remains a challenge and the NHRI would like to draw the Council’s attention to: gender role stereotyping; women’s unequal participation in political and economic life; and the high rates of violence against women. 13. Gender role stereotyping disadvantages women in many areas of life, particularly nofotane15, who tend to be the most disadvantaged.16 Further, Samoa ranks among the lowest in the world (131 out of 139) for women’s political participation.17 Women are systematically excluded, starting from the village level where only 11% of matais18 are female.19 The NHRI believes that women’s involvement in decision making must be addressed at both the village and national levels, and mutual strengthening may result in improved women’s representation at both levels.20 Further, access to employment for rural women must be addressed and they must be economically empowered.21 Recommendation 4: That the Samoan Government, in collaboration with the NHRI and relevant Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) raise awareness of gender role stereotyping and its effects on women, targeting both men and women at all levels of society. Recommendation 5: That the Samoan Government, in consultation with the NHRI, investigate appropriate methods to increase women’s participation in decision making within the village. Recommendation 6: That the Samoan Government work with relevant NGOs to promote family-focused economic empowerment programmes, particularly in rural areas. 14 Constitutional Amendment Act 2013 A married woman who moves from the village of her birth to reside in her husband’s village. 16 During the NHRI’s SHRR focus group discussions with women and girls, the issue of nofotane status was most often raised related to abuse suffered at the hand of her husband or mother-in-law, for which no local remedy was available. 17 Since independence in 1962, women have remained below 10% of Samoa’s parliamentarians. 18 Village chiefs. 19 Samoa Bureau of Statistics (SBS), Population and Housing Census 2011 Analytical Report (2011 Census) at 50 20 The SHRR consultations indicated that women lack confidence in their decision making abilities. If women are encouraged to lead (or even be involved) at the village level they may be more confident to lead in other areas of society also. 21 In Samoa, there are approximately equal ratios of women in executive and middle management positions in the public sector and the proportion of women in formal employment (excluding manual labour) is almost equal to men. However, while there are positives for urban women, rural women lack the employment opportunities available to urban populations. Work opportunities for Samoan women are concentrated in the informal employment sector. 15 6