Samoa’s Prime Minister, Fiame Naomi Mata’afa, has been named one of the British Broadcasting Corporation’s (B.B.C.) 100 most inspiring and influential women for the year 2021 - the only Pacific leader to be so honoured. 

This year’s list focused on those who are hitting “reset- women playing their part to reinvent our society, our culture and our world.”

Samoa’s first female Prime Minister was acknowledged by B.B.C. as one of the top women among Malala Yousafzai, the youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and Professor Heidi J Larson, who heads The Vaccine Confidence Project, and acclaimed author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

The list is divided into five different categories: Culture and Education, Entertainment and Sport, Politics and Activism, and Science, Health and Afghanistan.

Women from Afghanistan make up half of this year's list.

“The resurgence of the Taliban in August 2021 has changed the lives of millions of Afghans - with girls banned from receiving secondary education, the ministry for women's affairs being disbanded, and women in many cases told not to return to work,” the B.B.C. said in a statement unveiling the list.

“This year's list recognises the scope of their bravery and their achievements as they are forced to reset their lives.”

Fiame was listed as one of the 31 women from the Politics and Activism category.

According to the B.B.C., their list is based on names “gathered by them and suggested by the B.B.C.'s network of World Service languages teams.”

“We were looking for candidates who had made the headlines or influenced important stories over the past 12 months, as well as those who have inspiring stories to tell, achieved something significant or influenced their societies in ways that wouldn't necessarily make the news,” the network said. 

“The pool of names was then assessed against this year's theme - women who are hitting "reset", playing their part to reinvent our world after the global pandemic has forced so many of us to reassess the way we live. It was also measured for regional representation and due impartiality, before the final names were chosen.

“This year B.B.C. 100 Women made the unprecedented decision to devote half of the list to women from one country - Afghanistan.

“Recent events in the country have made headlines and left millions of Afghans questioning their future, as rights groups have spoken up in fear that women's freedoms could be eroded for the foreseeable future under the Taliban.

“By dedicating half of the list to women who are from or work in the country, we wanted to highlight how many of them have been forced to disappear from areas of public life, as well as to share the voices of those who are being increasingly silenced or who are part of a new Afghan diaspora.”

Fiame made international headlines after Samoa’s constitutional crisis this year after the General Election in April and was referred to as the “woman who unseated the world’s second-longest serving prime minister, Tuilaepa Dr. Sa’ilele Malielegaoi- who was Samoa’s P.M. of 20 years.”

A premier international current-affairs magazine for the Asia-Pacific region called The Diplomat ran an article October with the headline: Fiame’s Uphill Climb.

“The Pacific Island nation of Samoa isn’t commonly discussed on the global stage, but its recent three-month long political crisis caught international attention. It had all the spectacle of a good political thriller: accusations of treason, vote-rigging, foreign interference, Supreme Court rulings, and claims of a ‘bloodless coup’ and a ‘feminist plot,” the article read. 

“Fiame takes the helm at a challenging time in the nation’s history. Samoa’s economic situation is bleak, the impacts of climate change are starting to bite, disputes between China and Australia and their allies are reverberating across the region, and the bloc that would typically guide Samoa through the aforementioned issues, the Pacific Islands Forum (P.I.F.), is in disarray. Fiame’s challenges, moving forward, are myriad.”

The B.B.C. summed up Fiame’s contribution to women’s empowerment this year in a brief biography included in the list:

“The first female prime minister of Samoa and leader of the Faʻatuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (Fast) party. Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa entered politics at the age of 27 and has also served as deputy prime minister, minister of women, community and social development and minister of justice,” the broadcaster said. 

“She is also a high chieftess and an inspiration to Samoan women aspiring to political office. 

“Her agenda has a strong environmental focus: to fight against the climate emergency in one of the regions of the world most vulnerable to global warming.”