On International Women’s Day 2024, we bring you an edited extract from Dr Pamela Toliman’s contribution to the 2024 Ruth Bishop Address, presented annually by the Indo-Pacific Centre for Health Security within the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. I want to start by saying...
Category - Gender
The paradox of empowerment: gender norms and intimate partner violence in PNG
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a global scourge, with nearly one in three women experiencing violence at the hands of a partner at least once in their lifetime. Rates of violence are particularly high in PNG, where the prevalence rate is one in two women. How do we change this? It is tempting...
Polygamy is spreading in PNG
In Papua New Guinea, the proliferation of social problems related to polygamous marriages has led to one social justice advocate calling polygamy a “social evil”. It certainly leads to some serious problems. 65% of PNG’s female prisoners are convicted of a crime related to polygamous...
Intimate partner violence in Port Moresby: drivers and outcomes
Intimate partner violence (IPV) affects 80% of women in Papua New Guinea, a rate that may be the highest in the world. This blog draws on a sample of 152 cases (out of over 2,000 cases in total) maintained by the Royal PNG Constabulary Family and Sexual Violence Unit (FSVU) in Port Moresby for the...
Do no harm: supporting Pacific women leaders
The Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, last month committed to a...
Workplace harassment of women in Port Moresby: results of a...
In a recent survey of 96 employed women conducted by academics from the University of Papua New...
Migration seems to be shifting gender norms in Tonga
As in many countries, in Tonga gender equity can be a complicated and even contradictory issue. The...
Women-only customary courts in Pakistan and Afghanistan:...
An area of Pakistan known for its patriarchal structures, Taliban influence and discriminatory...
The Pacific digital transformation: is everyone a winner?
Digital transformation – based on improvements to digital connectivity and expanded internet access...
Barriers to women’s political participation in Vanuatu
The way politics is played in Melanesian countries has very little national inclusivity about it –...