(APR 12)  WBAN found an interesting and yet disappointing news story titled on Fiji Times, "Women Groups disappoint A-G" written by Atasa Moceituba.  They wrote the following:

Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum questioned women's organisations in the country on why they fail to respond to a statement made by one of the Opposition members in Parliament on the issue of women and boxing.  Apparently, this was after a debate in Parliament over the Boxing Commission of Fiji (Amendment) Bill of 2015, where Opposition Member Semesa Karavaki said women were not meant to be punched. Karavaki stated according to the article:

"Our women were not meant to be punished in the ring, our women were meant to be loved. We are not there yet. It's not natural, it's not accepted."

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said he was quite upset and disappointed with the lack of response from the Fiji women's organisations on the matter highlighted in Parliament.

"If the objective is to say women have equal rights, then they should have come out and spoken about it. Why didn't they?" Mr Sayed-Khaiyum asked.

He said women should know where they stood and be objective when it came to issues as such.

Responding to the comments made by Mr Karavaki, Fiji Women's Crisis Centre co-ordinator Shamima Ali said the comments were regressive and archaic.

She said society, including Parliament, should provide an enabling environment for women and girls to pursue their ambitions and not create impediments in a world which was already fraught with challenges to women exercising their rights.

LINKPACIFIC executive director Sharon Bhagwan Rolls said her organisation felt that the response of the Fiji Women's Crisis Centre had reflected a collective position on behalf of women's rights groups.

"As women's groups we also react together, on priority issues — regardless of which side of the house raises it," Ms Bhagwan-Rolls said.

WBAN's Comment:  We are not a "women's group" per se but we concur with  Fiji Women's Crisis Centre co-ordinator Shamima Ali who stated that the comments on women and boxing regressive and archaic.