Vanuatu's justice minister says the government hopes start the process to amend the constitution to allow for reserved seats for women in parliament when it sits next month.
Vanuatu Kastom performer at International Day for Rural Women, October 2015 - Emua Village. Photo: Courtesy of UN Women - Nicky Kuautonga
Ronald Warsal said the government last week approved the amendment, which would pave the way for work to begin to create legislation for it.
Mr Warsal said that will resolve questions including the number of seats to be reserved and whether they will be added to or taken from parliament's existing 52 seats.
"We have not agreed on a number yet but putting a provision in the constitution will allow the mechanism for parliament to pave way for women to have seats in parliament. After that we can see where things will fall in terms of numbers."
Ronald Warsal said he hopes to have reserved seats for the 2020 election.