the exception to this is in asia where womens participation at this level aside from in sri lanka has been in notable deficit in the pacific solomon islands papua new guinea png and fiji islands also have lower rates of civil society participation by women this result in parts of asia and the pacific may be attributable to increasing government restrictions on civil society freedoms has been suggested elsewhere roth but is beyond the scope of this report to investigate several other commonwealth states in africa also achieve a per cent or more representation of women at this level including namibia south africa and rwanda