Women, essential in elections

By Cherelle S Jackson

[Sunday Newsline] "Women are an essential factor in winning elections," this is according to Masiofo Filifilia Tamasese in a seminar on Women and Elections late last week.
The lunch seminar was hosted by the Samoa Association of Women’s Graduates to fundraise for their annual education for women programmes.
Masiofo Filifilia is the Wife and Chairman of his winning campaigns of former Prime Minister and former Opposition leader Tupua Tamasese Efi and.
Filifilia spoke on her experiences and the methods that worked in her electoral adventures: "Women have a powerful influence in family and village life, in Samoa women have great interest in their families and their villages and if I had any success in this political winning it is because I have utilized the woman-factor."
Her secret to success is her understanding of the people and the committees she formed in each constituency.
"Because I do not live in a district I do not belong, I needed a committee for each village and all my committee members were women."
She said: "We weren’t just looking for anyone, what we need are hard workers who live in the village culture everyday of their lives and people who can lead family and village politics."
Filifilia says her selection was based on those qualities alone: "You don’t just pick anyone because you are related to them; you have to carefully select your committee."
According to her the success of using women was also due to the cultural values associated with females in the FaaSamoa.
"There’s a Samoan saying: E au le inailau o tamaitai. I found that women have an uncanny insight into the workings of village and church politics, the interplay of family network and what’s more, women are hard working and reliable."
She said a village in essence is one big family, and one of the most essential part in winning elections is "how you read the mood, the aspirations, the rivalry, the jealousies
within the family and we determine how to mold people and particularly their emotions because politics comes in many margins."
Filifilia says politics is really about people, human nature and about what makes people tick.
"It’s about the best and worse in human nature. Politics is a challenge which can be summed up with the question: How can you mold the emotion, the aspiration, the philosophy and the human nature of people into a winning combination? It is not easy."
In Samoa each district has a number of villages and each village has structures which according to Filifilia if you are a candidate you would have to be familiar with this structure in order to understand where voters are coming from.
At the end of her presentation she advised the audience that the cultural and traditional strengths of a woman in her family, community and the country should be used to guarantee a successful election.
"From my experience this has worked!"
Her presentation was well received by members of academia, by women’s rights activists in Samoa and the region and members of the public who attended the lunch.
The lunch seminar ended on a positive note on women and elections and with Filifilia’s hopes for more women behind the scenes if not in the forefront of political endeavors in Samoa.