Cook Islands must find new solutions to old gender equality problems, says Tuarae

Photo courtesy of MELINA ETCHES/23080129. Retrieved from cookislandsnews.com

As the Cook Islands National Council of Women (CINCW) launches today into a three-day “uikaraurau” summit to plan for the future, the head of delegation, who led the Cook Islands to the 1995 United Nations World Conference on Women and Development in Beijing, says 30 years has done little to change the urgency of gender equality for Cook Islands women.

Former director for women in the then Ministry of Internal Affairs, Jean Tuarae, was a leading part of the Cook Islands delegation to the 1995 meeting in China.

Eyeing the issues on the agenda for CINCW sessions this week, she says the issues of the Beijing Platform for Action in 1995 remain the same for women in 2025.