Several factors have contributed to the increase in women’s representation this year. Firstly, women in Fiji are beginning to break social and cultural barriers with respect to education, even though unemployment rates for women are still higher than for men. Increasingly women are coming out as better educated, more career driven and more able to cope with the demands of culturally and socially constructed gender roles. The improvement in female participation can also be credited to Fiji’s active women’s rights movement. Fem Link Pacific, the Fiji Women Rights Movement, the National Council of Women and Soqosoqo vaka marama I-Taukei together convened the first ever Fiji Women’s Forum in April 2012. This created a platform for increasing women’s participation in politics and leadership. The final National Women’s Forum Outcomes Statement called for a 50% women’s quota in any new national legislature and/or a compulsory 50% candidates quota for political parties. Women’s NGOs have certainly put in the hard yards in advocating and promoting gender equality in politics and leadership in this year’s elections.