Pacific Peoples' Partnership

Connecting Indigenous and Pacific Peoples

Gaps Between Gender Policy & Community Experiences in the South Pacific

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By Madeline Storey

Women of the South Pacific Islands are among most vulnerable groups in the world to the effects of gender inequality. Women across the Pacific face serious risk from violence, lack of economic opportunities, under-representation in leadership and limited access to healthcare and education[1].

In August of 2012, Pacific Island Leaders met in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, for the 43rd Pacific Islands Forum Meeting[2]. Specifically, the Leaders endorsed the Pacific Leaders Gender Equality Declaration (PLGED), annex 1 of the 43rd Communique, which included promises to ending violence against women, ensure reproductive health planning, encourage gender parity in schools and ensure targeted support for women entrepreneurs.

However, one only needs to be a woman in the South Pacific to know that such declarations and promises have yet to reach them or are ineffective within existing community structures.

An Issue of Access

A lack of access to economic opportunities, health care and education may stem from the lack of female representation in government at the local and national level. It is a continuing rhetoric in many South Pacific communities that a women’s place is in the home and not in the public domain[3], which has led to an appalling lack of female representation in Parliaments across the South Pacific.

For example, in 2016[4] women in Australia held 31.8% of the nation’s seats in Parliament. This seems quite low, but not as poor as the female representation in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) of the Pacific. For example, women in the Cook Islands (Polynesia) held 17% of the nation’s seats in Parliament, while women in the Federated States of Micronesia and Vanuatu (Melanesia) held no seats.

One reason why women in SIDS have such low representation in government is due to existing social and cultural structures. Vanuatu, for example, has prevailing social and cultural perceptions of male-lead leadership[5], which has led to no women in parliament despite an increase in the number of women participating as candidates and publically questioning results. It has also resulted in very few male advocates for gender policy.

‘I was raised in an environment [in Malekula] where the man has power, but I always noticed  that women worked harder than men. Usually in decision making, the women just hang back and let the men do things. I don’t agree with this though. Men are the ones who always go to the meetings, and then nothing ever changes. This is because the wrong people are going. Women are always so silent in decision making. Even though they have good ideas, they just stay back. We really need to change women’s mindset and help them to see where they can contribute…we really need to have equal participation of men and women.’

– Male Leader, Malekula Vanuatu[6]. 

Improving the status of women requires significant social change, not just policy decisions. There is significant resource to show that when there are women in leadership, issues affecting women, youth and children are better addressed[7].

There needs to be a deeper understanding from the public donating to NGOs working in the South Pacific, and these organizations themselves, around the social and cultural complexities facing women in the South Pacific.

Aiding the South Pacific

It seems that every few years, there are new meetings, committees and development goals[8] that attempt to address the status of women across the world. Communities of the South Pacific need less western intervention and more western understanding when attempting to aid women in this region.

“For centuries, Third World women, other black women and working-class women have struggled against double or triple exploitation. As a Kanak, I disagree strongly with the liberal feminist view that “we are all women facing the same problem against male supremacy’ .”

– Susanna Ounei-Small, Kanaky (New Caledonia), 1995[9].

While we too are Pacific women, here on the west coast of Canada, it is important to note that gender inequality takes different forms for women depending on their circumstances. Factors such as race, age, location and the structure of local communities have a tremendous difference in the form and severity of gender inequality. It is a mistake to homogenize the experiences of women from across the world, as different contexts bring about different degrees of oppression.

The Complex Narrative Around the Status of Women

A balance between international development and understanding local community structures must be made in order to effectively aid women of the South Pacific.

It is important to note that a complex dichotomy between western or state law and community traditions exists in many regions of the Pacific, such as kastom law in Vanuatu[10]. It is likewise important to know that community structures vastly differ within SIDS of the Pacific. This makes it essential for groups seeking to effectively work with women to be aware of the complex structure of communities in the South Pacific and the expected role of women in these communities.

The South Pacific has been touched by centuries of colonial influence and intervention. This makes it hard to determine whether the gender hierarchy that can be seen in Pacific communities has been shaped by the influence of patriarchal institutions over the course of western development or not[11].

While many states in the South Pacific, including Vanuatu, Kiribati and Samoa, have been acceded[12] into the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)[13], aid initiatives still play a vital role in the region due to continuing violence against women[14].

Targeted women’s resources that have been implemented in the South Pacific include women’s networks, cooperatives and centers, safe houses and helplines. Women’s centers and cooperatives, specifically, act as legal information hubs and as an informal platform for women to share ideas. They also act as safe spaces for women[15].

‘This woman has never used the state system, so she doesn’t understand the processes. But she knows about the VWC [Vanuatu Women’s Centre] and domestic violence issues, and she knows that women should go to the Women’s Centre when they are facing these kinds of issues.’

– Researcher (Commenting on a female respondent in Central Malekula)[16].

Women’s centers and cooperatives can act as the “middle ground” for women seeking council on domestic violence and health issues that neither community law or state law has been able to address successfully[17].

Women’s centers and cooperatives can also act as a social change mechanism to compliment gender policy. It takes time to change attitudes and behaviors of people. Policy such as the Pacific Leaders Gender Equality Declaration (PLGED) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) have put in place guidelines for independent nations to abide by, while women’s networks and cooperatives are addressing the immediate needs of women in the South Pacific.

 

Taking Action

The fundamental issue is how women are perceived in their societies. Violence against women, lack of economic opportunities, under-representation in leadership and limited access to healthcare and education are all symptoms of gender inequality. These are all the same thread that women share, to varying degrees, around the globe.

Supporting women, all women, is crucial to raise the status of women in the South Pacific. Have conversations about gender equality. Educate yourself on the obstacles women face, particularly in South Pacific communities. Seek out NGOs who are making the priorities of women their focus.

References:

  1. United Nations Women, ‘Women’s leadership and political participation’ http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/leadership-and-political-participation

  1. Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (2012) Forty-Third Pacific Islands Forum Rarotonga, Cook Islands 28-30 August 2012. http://www.forumsec.org/resources/uploads/attachments/documents/2012%20Forum%20Communique,%20Rarotonga,%20Cook%20Islands%2028-30%20Aug1.pdf.

  2. Whittington, S., Ospina, S., & Pollard, A. A. E. (2006) Women in Government in Solomon Islands: A Diagnostic Study. Honiara: RAMSI. http://www.pacwip.org/resources/uploads/attachments/documents/WID%20Solomon%20Islands%20Diagnostc%20Study%20-%202006.pdf .

  1. The Pacific Island Forum Secretariat (2016) Pacific Leaders Gender Equality Declaration Trend Assessment Report 2012-2016. PIFS Cataloguing-in-Publication. ISBN 978-982-202-047-2. http://www.aidsdatahub.org/sites/default/files/publication/Pacific_Leaders_Gender_Equality_Declaration_2016.pdf. Pages 21, 25, 29 and 77.
  1. The Pacific Island Forum Secretariat (2016) Pacific Leaders Gender Equality Declaration Trend Assessment Report 2012-2016. PIFS Cataloguing-in-Publication. ISBN 978-982-202-047-2. http://www.aidsdatahub.org/sites/default/files/publication/Pacific_Leaders_Gender_Equality_Declaration_2016.pdf. Page 75.
  1. The Policing and Justice Support Program (2016) Conflict Management and Access to Justice in Rural Vanuatu. http://www.mjcs.gov.vu/images/stretem_rod/Conflict_Management_and_A2J_in_Rural_Vanuatu.pdf. Pages 113.
  1. Crawford, J. & Fairhurst, R. (2014) “What do women and men in Fiji think about women in politics? New insights on where change is happening”, Devpolicy Blog, November 19th, http://devpolicy.org/what-do-women-and-men-in-fiji-think-about-women-in-politics-new-insights-on-where-change-is-happening-20141119/.
  1. United Nations General Assembly (2015) Sustainable Development Goals. http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/.
  1. Ounei-Small, S. (1995) “Decolonising Feminism” in Tok Blong Pasifik Vol. 49 #2 June 1995. Page 20. https://archive.pacificpeoplespartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/49-2-Tok-Blong-Pasifik-June-1995-m.pdf .
  1. The Policing and Justice Support Program (2016) Conflict Management and Access to Justice in Rural Vanuatu. http://www.mjcs.gov.vu/images/stretem_rod/Conflict_Management_and_A2J_in_Rural_Vanuatu.pdf. Page 6.
  1. Campbell, I. C. (1989) A history of the Pacific Islands. University of California Press. Berkley and Los Angeles. https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Ex7jr346fZUC&oi=fnd&pg=PA6&dq=settler+influence+south+pacific+islands&ots=mA7NI9DVwp&sig=hoMwMyCLp1RvVNfjCipRQ2N1lkk#v=onepage&q=settler%20influence%20south%20pacific%20islands&f=false.
  2. United Nations Children’s Fund (1999) Introduction to the Convention on the Rights of the Child: Definition of Key Terms. https://www.unicef.org/french/crc/files/Definitions.pdf.
  3. UN General Assembly (1979) The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/text/econvention.htm.
  4. Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development (2016) Annual Progress Report 2015-2016: Supporting the Pacific Leaders’ Gender Equality Declaration. http://pacificwomenreport.org/. Page 38.
  5. George, N. (2012) Situating Women: Gender Politics and Circumstances in Fiji. ANU E Press. Canberra. https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwibj9Cp5-rRAhVEy2MKHfBwAKYQFggtMAM&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.oapen.org%2Fdownload%3Ftype%3Ddocument%26docid%3D459879&usg=AFQjCNE4KSJKRsZsbDoVbGur9hpfQZxskg. Page 21.
  6. The Policing and Justice Support Program (2016) Conflict Management and Access to Justice in Rural Vanuatu. http://www.mjcs.gov.vu/images/stretem_rod/Conflict_Management_and_A2J_in_Rural_Vanuatu.pdf. Page 127.
  7. The Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (2015) ‘Case study: Vanuatu Women’s Centre works in partnership with the police to eliminate violence against women’. November 26. http://dfat.gov.au/news/news/Pages/vanuatu-womens-centre-works-in-partnership-with-policy-to-eliminate-vaw.aspx.

[1] United Nations Women, ‘Women’s leadership and political participation’.

[2] Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (2012) Forty-Third Pacific Islands Forum Rarotonga, Cook Islands 28-30 August 2012.

[3] Whittington, S., Ospina, S., & Pollard, A. A. E. (2006) Women in Government in Solomon Islands: A Diagnostic Study. Honiara: RAMSI.

[4] The Pacific Island Forum Secretariat (2016) Pacific Leaders gender Equality Declaration Trend Assessment Report 2012-2016. Pg. 21, 25, 29 and 77.

[5] The Pacific Island Forum Secretariat (2016) Pacific Leaders Gender Equality Declaration Trend Assessment Report 2012-2016. Page 75.

[6] The Policing and Justice Support Program (2016) Conflict Management and Access to Justice in Rural Vanuatu. Page 113.

[7] Crawford, Joanne & Fairhurst, Rachel (2014) “What do women and men in Fiji think about women in politics? New insights on where change is happening”.

[8] United Nations General Assembly (2015) Sustainable Development Goals.

[9] Ounei-Small, S. (1995) “Decolonising Feminism”.

[10] The Policing and Justice Support Program (2016) Conflict Management and Access to Justice in Rural Vanuatu. Page 6.

[11] Campbell, I. C. (1989) A history of the Pacific Islands.

[12] United Nations Children’s Fund (1999) Introduction to the Convention on the Rights of the Child: Definition of Key Terms.

[13] UN General Assembly (1979) The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

[14] Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development (2016) Annual Progress Report 2015-2016: Supporting the Pacific Leaders’ Gender Equality Declaration.

[15] George, N. (2012) Situating Women: Gender Politics and Circumstances in Fiji. Page 21.

[16] The Policing and Justice Support Program (2016) Conflict Management and Access to Justice in Rural Vanuatu. Page 127.

[17] The Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (2015) ‘Case study: Vanuatu Women’s Centre works in partnership with the police to eliminate violence against women’.

Rising Seas: Impact of Climate Change on Laone, Pentecost

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Sea Level Rise in Laone, Pentecost

 

Laone is a string of villages nestled alongside the coast of North Pentecost Island in the Republic of Vanuatu. According to local knowledge, the village was established on that site hundreds of years ago, with some gravesites dating back over 500 years. More recently, the community was home to Fr. Walter Lini, Vanuatu’s first Prime Minister.  Laone is a community of substantial history. But with the intensifying impacts of climate change, community leaders and families now have to make tough decisions about Laone’s future.

Vanuatu, like most other small Pacific Island states, is critically impacted by climate change. The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service has projected continued increases in air and ocean surface temperatures in the Pacific, increased frequency of extreme weather events, and increased rainfall during the summer months and a decrease in rainfall during the winter months. A majority of the ni-Vanuatu population live in rural areas, sustained by subsistence economies and modest cash crops. Taro, manioc (cassava), kumala (sweet potato), coconuts, bananas and island cabbage are staples of food consumption in villages. But changes in rainfall and extreme storm events are now creating significant threats to food security with disease outbreaks in agriculture, water insecurity, food insecurity and declining health in rural communities.

Selwyn Toa is from Laone, North Pentecost. Selwyn is completing his final year of a Masters program at the University of Baltimore, USA. He is majoring in Global Affairs and Human Security with a research focus on the balance between mitigating and adapting to climate change in the Pacific Islands. Selwyn is motivated to study the effects of globalization and westernization on his community and on ni-Vanuatu culture. Questions that guide Selwyn include “How can we sustain and keep our cultures alive within the conventions of this globalized society? How can these different ideologies be integrated or interact with one another?”

Living in Maryland, Selwyn has noticed a divide between how Pacific Islanders and the West conceptualize climate change. “A couple months ago, I was in Washington DC for a seminar,” Selwyn recalled. “We were talking about climate change, and it was all about economic impacts. It is frustrating to see climate change through that lens. I recognize larger countries are concerned for the wellbeing of their citizens, which is dependent on economic activities. But for us in the Pacific, climate change is about surviving. It’s about protecting our environment that provides us with our daily necessities. Our lives are spent on the front lines.”

“So the challenge for Pacific Islanders is to strike a balance between our lived reality of climate change with the economic activities of big countries.”

Selwyn is very familiar with the effects of climate change. He recalled leaving for church one morning from his home in Laone, Pentecost, and finding human skeletons on the beach. The skeletons had washed ashore after the community graveyard was swallowed by rising sea levels. Community leaders promptly gathered the skeletons and buried them elsewhere.

Vanuatu has an extensive coastline, sheltered and sustained by extensive coral reefs. But the damage being suffered by the reefs in the past twenty years is unprecedented. “Community leaders share knowledge about how the coastline was in the past and the changes they have observed over the years. We know what is normal for a reef,” he noted. “But in 2016, after a few years of living abroad, I returned and could hardly believe what I saw. I could hardly find any healthy corals. They are not there anymore. Instead, the reefs were filled with dead corals.”

 

As sea levels rise, families are forced to make hard choices. Each cyclone season, villagers have to move to safer and higher grounds to be safe. Some members of Laone community are relocating to create new villages or settlements inland, leading to a dwindling community population.

“Psychologically,” said Selwyn, “people are just trying to survive. One of the accolades of Melanesians is that when facing a challenge, they’ll say that they are okay when they are not. Our life is subjected to the weather. It’s grating the community down, as people constantly have to ask themselves, ‘What’s going to happen next?’ It’s hard to stay positive when you just don’t know what’s going to happen next.”

A lack of accessible information about the diverse effects of climate change – from drought to sea level rise, coupled with frequent earthquakes – inhibits communities from systematically preparing for extreme weather events. Selwyn explains how villagers this past year prepared themselves for the effects of a cyclone, in anticipation of another event like Cyclone Pam. But those efforts were ineffectual when they were met by El Nino and drought instead. Planning for the diverse effects of climate change requires accessible information and economic power, both of which are lacking in rural areas in Vanuatu.

“In rural Vanuatu, people have their own ways of prioritizing after cyclone depending on the needs of the people and communities,” Selwyn explained. “Sometimes, they have to choose between pulling their lives together after a cyclone or doing what’s best for the community. You’re always facing a lack of time –  for example, you may be trying to recover from a cyclone, but then there is another natural disaster such as earthquake, and then El Niño, and then another cyclone.’

‘People have been adapting and dealing with this extreme weather cycle for decades. Therefore, ni-Vanuatu’s lives are based on principles like ‘hope,’ ‘persistence,’ and ‘resistance,’ knowing that the new house they are building or new garden may or may not survive the next natural disaster. However, these people never give up.’

‘They keep doing what they have been doing because that’s what survival in the islands means.” 

Amidst the chaos of climate change, Indigenous knowledge and cultural networks have provided social security to rural communities. “It’s a community driven society,” explained Selwyn. “If somebody’s house is knocked down, another family will take care of them. People understand that by sharing their limited resources, they are able to avoid high death rates during extreme weather events.”

For centuries, ni-Vanuatu communities have relied on Indigenous knowledge, or kastom, to guide their preparedness for extreme weather events. The successes of Indigenous knowledge in mitigating the worst effects of climate change were evident with Cyclone Pam. Selwyn explained how the low death rates during Cyclone Pam could be attributed at least in part to Indigenous building methods. Ni-Vanuatu houses are typically constructed from local wood and bamboo, and thatched with leaves of natangura. These structures are typically able to withstand both cyclones and earthquakes. “It is important to consider how we can integrate Indigenous technology when planning how to build up our resilience, our communities, and how we are going to adapt to climate change,” Selwyn said.

Many of the Indigenous forms of building in the Pacific have eroded with the introduction of Western building techniques including corrugated iron and concrete. Construction is unregulated, and buildings are not build to standards and codes. This causes Western-style buildings to be more vulnerable to environmental hazards, and dangerous to inhabitants.

Uncertainty about the climate has led many ni-Vanuatu to revive Indigenous weather prediction methods. While there is great value in Indigenous climate knowledge, these practices have eroded through the colonial era and the knowledge is not well documented. “There is curiosity about the validity of sources: many people ask ‘Who is providing the information?’ There is also significant doubt about trusting Indigenous knowledge. One of the impacts of the colonization and Christianization of indigenous ni-Vanuatu communities is that traditional culture was portrayed as satanic and unacceptable to Western civilization.”

The propensity to look to Indigenous knowledge to explain changing weather patterns largely depends on whether populations are urban or rural. Rural communities have limited access to technology and communication platforms tend to look towards Indigenous knowledge, whereas those in more urban areas or those with access to communication platforms look towards scientific knowledge to explain unpredictable weather.

“Vanuatu government is to be praised for its effort toward advocating for the use of both indigenous knowledge and scientific knowledge to be complementary to each other,” Selwyn notes.

On the international stage, Vanuatu has been a strong advocate of linking Indigenous knowledge to climate adaptation and mitigation efforts. Jermone Ludvaune, former Vanuatu’s Minister for Climate Change, stated at COP 21 that “Vanuatu will push [for the rights of Indigenous peoples to share traditional knowledge in addressing climate change] to be further strengthened. We want a strong and durable Paris outcome that has political support.” Vanuatu further raised the issue of Indigenous knowledge at COP 22, advocating for further funding to be put towards Indigenous knowledge.

Selwyn noted that there are indicators that integrating local Indigenous knowledge into climate planning would lead to greater climate program success rates. “Pacific countries such as Vanuatu are in a unique position because most of the land belongs to the community. Therefore, the community needs to take more ownership over the climate adaptation and mitigation programming that is being directed by donors and foreign governments.”

Selwyn’s message to Pacific Islanders? “Keep doing what you’re doing; know that across all the villages in the Pacific everyone is sharing the same concerns. Children are being traumatized by cyclones in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji. Families and communities are being rebuilt, – it’s the same experience.”

“We need to keep looking for new and better alternatives to help us survive. If our ancestors before us have survived in the middle of the ocean for over hundreds of years and that legacy has been bestowed upon us to protect the next generation and our environment, then we can survive climate change. We can help ourselves; the beauty of our collective culture is the things we do together as a community that keep us strong. That spirit of ‘togetherness’ will be our strength to guide us in every way to foster our climate change agenda on the global stage. As individuals, do whatever contribution you can: write, use Facebook and Twitter to tell the story of our people. Let us take advantage of the technological revolution to get our message to world leaders. We have to let the world especially climate change deniers that climate change is real.”

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