2026-03-25
GREEN WOMEN RISING IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC
By, Michelle Sheather, International Development Commmittee
Working alongside women in green parties in Asia, the Pacific and the Middle East, the Australian Greens International Development Committee (IDC) has worked for 9 years to support and train women in national Green parties in countries where this is often discouraged – including key organisational roles and standing as candidates.
A one-on-one mentoring program started up for women in Asia Pacific and Middle East Green parties in November 2017 with 4 pairs, and now around 30 pairs have been completed.
In 2019, we started a pilot Gender Equity training with the Indian Green Party, which has developed into an Asia Pacific-wide initiative, along with a train-the-trainers program so women can train women in their own countries, in their own languages and cultures.
The program develops and supports Green women leaders and future leaders to pass on their knowledge, build confidence, develop skills, share experience and perspectives of Green politics.
In many parts of the world, women are under-represented in Parliament. On a global scale, it is lowest in the Pacific at just 3% of all MPs. To meet this need in 2024, we held a special training in Fiji for all of our Pacific Green colleagues. Since then, an extensive program has been rolled out in PNG with three Gender Equity trainings in the last 18 months, supported by their National Electoral Commission, which is also encouraging more women to be in their Parliament – which is currently 3 of 118 members.
In Vanuatu, we are supporting the registration and local government Port Vila election campaign for their Green Party, which has a majority of women on their executive; in the Solomon Islands later this year, we will run our third Gender Equity training. In both, we are continuing to build up their respective national Women’s Networks.
Over this time, we have mentored many women from Nepal, India, Pakistan, Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Indonesia, Atjeh Indonesia, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, and Iraq. Many mentees have entered into key roles within their national parties and the Asia Pacific Federation, as well as candidates at all levels of government.
In the current financial year, we have identified projects to support the Green parties of Pakistan, India, and PNG to build and revitalise women’s networks at a national level and in key branches. In each party, they have similar challenges of women not being encouraged to enter politics (or in some cases actively discouraged to do so).
Together, we’ve come a long way towards the representation of women in the Asia Pacific Greens Federation. In 2016, around one-quarter of national representatives on the Federation Council were women, and now it is around 60%.
“In 2018, I began as an APGFWN mentee and later became a mentor, having since mentored two other women in the Green Party of Nepal. Together, we organised two national Gender Equity trainings, resulting in four women becoming national Gender Equity trainers, all of whom now serve on the party’s Executive. This work has helped build a confident and capable team of women leaders. I currently serve as Party Secretary, another woman is Vice President, and we now have more women actively involved in the core committee. This reflects the practical impact of our work with APGFWN and the Australian Greens IDC. While challenges remain, the work continues to grow and strengthen women’s leadership within the party.”
— Rachana Shrestha, Green Party of Nepal
Working with the Women’s Federation, hundreds of women across Asia Pacific and the Middle East are now trained in the Gender Equity training program, which is adapted for local circumstances. For example, this financial year we have held the first training in Punjab in India and another in Lae in eastern PNG, where the party is establishing a key branch.
In all Green parties, we share an understanding that more women and diversity in our leadership and candidates, the more is done on issues of high importance to women: from education for women and girls, to community health, microfinancing, and importantly to significantly halt domestic violence.