Across the world, women are being celebrated and recognized for a number of reasons on this auspicious day. International Women’s Day focuses on the women’s rights movement and emphasizing the importance of gender equality and equity. This year the theme is “Inspire Inclusion.” Many have their own interpretation of it, but I would like to think that this year’s theme is about providing opportunities to women especially in the workforce.
To commemorate International Women’s Day, Communications Fiji Ltd., the parent company of FM96 hosted an in-work brunch where they had Honorable Minister Lenora Qereqeretabua speak about her experiences in the workforce as a woman.
Hon. Minister Lenora Qereqeretabua originally got her foot in the game when she joined the FM96 Team back in the day. She was asked to take a trip down memory lane and tell us about the mischief the FM96 team got up to back then. “The mischief we would get up to in FM96 back in the days would’ve gotten us sacked or even arrested!” she answered.
She later made her transition into politics. “Why did you decide to get into politics?” one current FM96 personality asked her. She replied “I opened my big mouth on social media and disagreed with something the government was planning to do and it got the attention of one of the higher ups in the government so I thought to myself if my voice can be heard while I’m standing in line at the bank, imagine what I could do if my voice could be heard inside!” Since then, she has used that voice to make positive changes for women.
When asked if she ever feels that she is judged based on her appearance before her repertoire in her line she simply stated “Mean comments about my appearance as a female politician were all out of spite.”
While celebrating with CFL, Hon. Minister Lenora Qereqeretabua delivered an empowering speech pertaining to the theme “Inspire Inclusion.” The majority could agree that the Hon. Minister Lenora Qereqeretabua is quite the inspiration for young women hoping to get into politics.
