What Tongan women say about Women's Rights [1]
Tuesday, January 30, 2001 - 12:00. Updated on Friday, January 29, 2016 - 14:39.
From Matangi Tonga Magazine, Vol. 15, no. 4, January 2001.
Teimumu Tapueluelu, President, Women in Law Association of Tonga
"Equal rights (for men and women) is a must, but there is a lot of preparatory work that has to be done first."
Teimumu says that the right of children with Tongan mothers and foreign fathers to become Tongan citizens is also a must, but as for the right of women to own hereditary land, "we are still working on it."
Teimumu says that WILA will open a centre in 2001 offering a legal advisory service free of charge for women. "We are providing free legal service, but only in rare cases will we represent someone in court."
Teimumu says that WILA would like to maintain its image as a professional body, giving free legal advice to women.
At the moment they have 12 qualified lawyers as members. The executives are: President, Teimumu Tapueluelu, (Bank of Tonga); Secretary, Sela Tupou (Crown Law); Treasurer, Lesina Tonga (Edwards and Paasi). Members include Lautoa Faletau and Lepaola Bloomfield.
Kololiana Naufahu, Publisher of the first Tongan women's magazine
"The way I look at it Tongan women are more privileged than women in other parts of the world.
"These women's gropus are absolutely wrong about women's rights. It is not a lack of rights but lack of education by their mothers to know their rights. If they were brought up in the proper traditional way, which is, "that boys always respect girls, and boys never hit a girl."
Kololiana tells a story of a mother with a boy and a girl attending a public function. "The girl was disrupting the little boy's game, so the mother told the boy, "don't let her get away with it, hit her!" This is where it is all starting from.
"With regards to equal rights, Tongan women must know they are going to lose something, particularly the respect that they traditionally deserve from Tongan men."
Wife beating
Wife beating and the assaulting of women, Kololiana thinks is disgraceful. "A person who attacks females was once considered to be a sissy and a slob, but not these days, it is just something that a man can do if he is angry.
"The other thing that disgusts me is incest, and I strongly disagree with how they penalise these people. They are sent to jail, then after they serve their time they go back home to their families and do exactly the same thing again."