Drawing on findings from my recently published book, Gender Sensitive Parliaments in Fiji, I present narratives that articulate the parliament’s internalisation of, and resistance to, gender equality respectively. A particularly compelling narrative of resistance is one of 'reverse discrimination', or that gender equality initiatives are at men's expense. In a region with the highest level of development assistance in the world (Dayant et al., 2023)—a significant proportion of which is purposively dedicated to gender programmes (DFAT, 2025)—this foreign agenda is perceived as “discriminating against men”. While a fundamental objective of gender analysis is to redistribute benefits where they are found to disadvantage specific groups, the reverse discrimination narrative in the Pacific is underpinned by an argument that women are not, actually, unfairly disadvantaged. Countering these heady narratives requires a new form of coalition building, one that identifies and supports the groups of actors most likely to advance narratives of support. In this case study, a previously unidentified group of male advocates is evident among male parliamentary clerks. Finding platforms to support their work more broadly will be fundamental to normative change towards gender equality in the Pacific.
