Regional Gender Profile
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Anna Laqeretabua 2014 Regional Gender Profile Gender Context 3 Gender Issues 3 Women in Decision Making 3 Violence Against Women 4 Unequal access to economic and productive resources 5 Gender and Development 6 Sectors 7 Health 7 Education 7 Water, Sanitation and Waste 8 Transport and Infrastructure 8 Energy 8 Climate Change, Disaster Risk Reduction, Disaster Risk Management 8 Institutional and Legal Framework 9 Actors 9 Recommendations 10 2 Gender Context Women in the Pacific continue to be disadvantaged in relation to men in almost all areas of life. The high incidences of physical, emotional and sexual violence against women and girls are perpetuated by value systems which link masculinity with authority over women as found in recent Pacific studies. While some gains have been made in the last two decades in relation to advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment, challenges still remain for women in the areas of accessing sexual reproductive health services, economic opportunities, paid work, and public decision making at all levels. According to the Regional MDG Progress Report, 2013, only Cook Islands, Niue and Palau are on track to achieve the broader goal of promoting gender equality and empowering women with most Forum Island Countries (FICs) having recorded slow progress on empowering women. Women’s representation in parliament in the Pacific is the lowest of any region in the world. The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Palau and Vanuatu currently have no women in their parliaments, while FSM remains one of the three countries in the world that have never elected a woman.1 While all FICs except for Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Tonga are on track with achieving parity in education, there are concerns that this is not leading to better employment outcomes due to gender barriers in labour markets and gender stereotypes. Concerns are also emerging over the attendance and performance of boys, particularly in high school. 2 In 2012, Pacific Island leaders endorsed the Pacific Leaders Gender Equality declaration committing with renewed energy to implement the gender equality actions of the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Revised Pacific Platform for Action on the Advancement of Women and Gender Equality (2005 to 2015), the Pacific Plan, the 42nd Pacific Island Forum commitment to increase the representation of women in legislatures and decision making; and the 40th Pacific Island Forum commitment to eradicate sexual and gender based violence. All FICs except for Palau and Tonga have ratified CEDAW. T A Leaders of the Gender Issues Women in Decision Making The Pacific has one of the lowest rates of women in Parliament in the world reflecting the entrenched traditional views that leadership is for men, which influences electorates right across the region. In Vanuatu, for example, chiefly male leadership is a strong component of national identity and in Tonga, one third of parliamentary seats are reserved for nobles, always male. While some gains have been made with the introduction of Temporary Special Measures (TSM) to boost women’s political participation at a national and local level, the measures have yet to result in a visible increase in women in the highest levels of decision- making. In a recent breakthrough, the Samoan Parliament voted unanimously in support of a bill to amend the Constitution to reserve five seats or 10 per cent of the 49 parliamentary seats for 1 2013 Regional MDG Tracking Report, page 11 2 ibid 3 women electoral candidates. The Vanuatu Government also recently approved the tabling of a Bill to allocate 30-34 percent of seats to women in all municipal councils. At the sub-national level, Tuvalu and Samoa have implemented quotas. Tuvalu has passed a law requiring female representatives on local councils, and Samoa has initiated a programme to appoint a woman representative in every village council. In PNG, the Governor of the National Capital District was able to appoint 50 percent female members to his City Council in 2008 against considerable opposition at the time, but still succeeded in being re-elected in 2012.3 Key barriers to women’s political participation identified through national assessments revealed gender stereotypes, cultural and social attitudes and lack of resources to fully engage in political processes such as campaigning for elections. The 2013 Regional MDG Tracking report highlighted the physical danger faced by women when travelling around constituencies as a further barrier as well as concerns around the smear campaigns and intimidation that mark many elections.4 The Tracking report states that even when women are elected to Pacific parliaments, they are in such small numbers that they are unable to influence parliament in favour of gender equality without support from the male majority. Therefore, strong affirmative action from male leaders themselves is essential. Without a cohort of women in leadership and decision making roles, many issues that directly affect the wellbeing of women – and therefore of families, communities and society in general – remain unattended.5 Violence Against Women VAW in the Pacific is alarmingly high with the country assessments revealing a widespread acceptance of violence, complicated by the traditional ways of dealing with violence, which is often within families and clans. There is a lack of documentation on the issues, compounded by a lack of reporting. While a number of countries have introduced No Drop policies within Police Divisions, there are still concerns around the safety of women and girls who do report violence to the Police. National studies on the prevalence of violence against women and girls have been conducted in the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Tonga, Fiji, Samoa and Vanuatu and revealed high levels of intimate partner violence. The national VAW prevalence studies have also revealed high levels of severe abuse, and the impact of conditions under situation of armed conflict and political instability, which intensify sexual and gender based violence, rape, and sexual assault. In PNG, brutal torture and killings of women accused of witchcraft are a rapidly spreading phenomenon (PIFS and SPC: 2013). 6 Access to support services or protection through the justice system for survivors of violence and their families is low throughout the Pacific, providing very little escape for women and girls experiencing such violence. Similar studies are now underway in Cook Islands, FSM, Palau, Nauru, PNG and the Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI). Some progress has been made in the introduction of VAW legislation to address all aspects of VAW with Family Protection Acts now in place in Vanuatu, Fiji 3 2013 Regional MDG Tracking Report, page 39. 4 Ibid, page 38 5 ibid 6 ibid, page 45 4 and RMI. Other progress made: 2012: Samoa tabled the Family Safety Bill Cook Islands – Family Law Bill Solomon Islands – Approved a new EVAW policy FSM – Drafting of VAW Policy Tuvalu –Consultations on Family Protection and DV Bill Tonga –Drafting of VAW legislation7 The national VAW prevalence studies have provided the evidence based data that strongly support the need for substantive legislative and policy reforms on VAW and girls and related services. Consequently, Kiribati and Solomon Islands have endorsed national policies and action plans on eliminating VAW and joint efforts between all stakeholders are underway to implement them. The regional MDG report states that violence against women also increases immediately after an emergency or natural disaster. Therefore, humanitarian responses and disaster preparedness need to take into account the significant increase in sexual-based violence faced by women and girls. At the regional level, there are two working groups focused on catalysing action, learning and cooperation on VAW. The Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) Reference Group motivates and supports member countries on their policy and legislative reforms on SGBV. The Regional Working Group on Women, Peace and Security assists Pacific countries to accelerate implementation of existing international, regional and national commitments on women, peace and security. Solomon Islands is developing a National Women Peace and Security Plan, a first for the region.8 Unequal access to economic and productive resources In the Pacific, women face challenges with accessing equal opportunities to paid employment in the non-agricultural sector. Women continue to be concentrated in the un-skilled or clerical level positions. While changes are becoming evident at senior levels of leadership in some countries in both the public and private sector, these positions are still predominately held by men reflecting the gender stereotypes typically affecting employment and hindering women’s progress. According to the 2013 Regional MDG Tracking Report, a majority of FICs reported less than 50 percent of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector A gender wage gap is common, with women receiving less pay than men, particularly in low skilled jobs. There is also evidence of the earnings gap in the informal sector. For example, in PNG, according to the 2009 HIES, 59 percent of women and 53 percent of men reported selling subsistence products, but the men reported earnings twice as high as women. (World Bank, 2012b). 9 Women are often disadvantaged by patriarchal customary practices relating to access, ownership, inheritance and control of productive resources, particularly land, which restricts their ability to develop businesses. A study of six Pacific countries found that without collateral, women found it difficult to obtain credit 7 Challenges to VAW Legislation, SPC RRRT, Gina Houng Lee 8 2013 Regional MDG Tracking Report, page 45 9 ibid page 34 5 and other resources. This tends to limit women to small scale enterprises, often financed through women’s micro-credit schemes (IFC, 2010).10 Gender and Development Governments in the region are committed to ‘Mainstreaming’ a gender perspective across all multi-sectoral development and governance work when adopting the Beijing Platform for Action.