Changing Market Culture in the Pacific

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Asia Paciﬁc Viewpoint, Vol. 55, No. 3, December 2014 ISSN 1360-7456, pp306–318

Changing market culture in the Paciﬁc: Assembling a conceptual framework from diverse knowledge and experiences

Yvonne Underhill-Sem,* Elizabeth Cox,† Anita Lacey‡ and Margot Szamier§ *School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1152, New Zealand. Email: [email protected] †Independent Consultant, PO Box 1252, Windsor LPO, Vic. 3181, Australia. Email: [email protected] ‡School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1152, New Zealand. Email: [email protected] §Independent Consultant, c/MFAT Suva, Private Bag 18901, Wellington, New Zealand. Email: [email protected]

Abstract: Addressing the multiple dimensions of gender inequality requires commitments by policy-makers, practitioners and scholars to transformative practices. One challenge is to assemble a coherent conceptual framework from diverse knowledges and experiences. In this paper, we present a framework that emerged from our involvement in changing market culture in the Pacific, which we name a radical empowerment of women approach. We draw on detailed narratives from women market vendors and women-led new initiatives in marketplaces to explain this approach. We argue that the primary focus of recently developed projects for marketplaces in the Pacific is technical and infrastructural, which is insufficient for addressing gendered political and economic causes of poor market management and oppressive conditions for women vendors. By exploring the complex array of motives and effects of the desire to transform or improve marketplaces in the Pacific, we caution against simplistic technical or infrastructural solutions. This paper also introduces the practice of working as a cooperative, hybrid research collaboration. The knowledges and analyses that we bring to this issue demonstrate that substantive analysis generated from diverse and shifting ‘locations’ and roles, but underpinned by a shared vision of, and commitment to, gender justice, can provide distinctive policy and research insights.

Keywords: empowerment of women, gender equality, market vendors, marketplaces, Paciﬁc development, research collaboration

Introduction market ‘improvement’ project aimed at developing more democratic and inclusive market Addressing the multiple dimensions of gender vendors’ associations. The remark came after a inequality in the Pacific, as elsewhere, requires query about rural, producer-selling, small-scale a commitment from policy-makers, practition- women traders becoming full voting members ers and scholars in the development community and leaders, in proportional representation, to to transformative practices. A challenging part market vendors’ associations, most of which are of any transformative practice is assembling exclusively dominated by men who are large a coherent conceptual framework from the stall holders and business operators. The con- diverse knowledge and experiences of various sultant’s response to this proposition was ‘isn’t actors, including the women directly involved. that a bit radical?’ Our radical empowerment of In this paper, we present a framework which women approach counters this questioning and emerged as we were variously involved in recognises the need to challenge existing prac- changing market culture in the Pacific. We tice and thinking about market culture. named this framework a radical empowerment Women have a dominant presence in market- of women approach. This was in response to the places in the Pacific, both as vendors and remark of a consultant who was working on a buyers. Yet there have been few attempts to

© 2014 Victoria University of Wellington and Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd doi: 10.1111/apv.12063 Changing market culture in the Pacific recognise gender, ethnic and economic differ- especially in places which matter to ences among vendors, and this has led to marginalised and impoverished women, hence marketplaces becoming increasingly insecure, the focus on marketplaces. exploitative and dangerous places. In spite of In August 2012, Pacific Island Leaders signed their pivotal place in the market chain, many the Pacific Leaders Gender Equality Declaration women producer-sellers are exploited and vul- (annex 1 of the 43rd Communique of the Pacific nerable. Gender-based violence is prevalent in Island Forum Meeting). Witnessed by global many marketplaces, with women and children guests including US Secretary of State Hillary especially vulnerable to violence when they Clinton and Executive Director of UN Women reside in the marketplaces overnight and some- Michelle Bachelet (in 2014 elected President of times for days on end until they can sell their Chile), this high-level commitment to gender produce and/or return to their village. There is equality in the Pacific was unprecedented. often a lack of adequate security, and some- Sceptics rightfully questioned whether this was times security personnel are involved in perpe- an ‘empty commitment or a real opportunity’ trating or ignoring the violence enacted against (Mackesy-Buckley, 2012), but financed by sig- vendors and patrons. This violence is of course nificant funds from the Australian and New not limited to the marketplace. Exploitative eco- Zealand governments, new infrastructure devel- nomic practices also abound, with unofficial opment in key urban markets in the Pacific charges for such things as toilet use and security started in 2012 (UN Women, 2012). Many of and overnight ‘accommodation’ on the floor of these efforts are characterised by limited gender the marketplace being charged on top of official analysis and thus, we argue, will fall short fees. These charges are largely unrestricted of empowering women. Our concern was the and unregulated, and detract from vendors’ live- failure to expose and redress inequality and lihoods. Facilities are often drastically inad- injustice, which is embedded in the social, equate, in some places a little more than the political and economic status quo and the inevi- shelter that women themselves erect with poor table layers of structural and sexual violence or no sanitation. While marketplaces are also that, in many places in the Pacific, dominate busy, vibrant and vital places, and are central to women’s engagement in and reliance on mar- food supply networks and livelihoods, women ketplace activity. vendors also experience various forms of inse- To counter these shortcomings and because curity and exploitation. of the urgency of need for change in market- Based on our knowledge of market vendors places, we argue for a radical new approach to in the Pacific, we propose a fresh and radi- the empowerment of women which highlights cally new approach to considering women’s two critical but often overlooked features. The empowerment in marketplace development first is that women need to be recognised as projects: fresh because it takes seriously the astute political subjects making decisions based ability of groups of women to govern their own on complex and diverse bodies of knowledge, political and economic lives; and radical often while they are in marginalised, insecure because an explicit focus on empowering and unsafe situations. Such knowledge is very organisations of women working for their evident for women market vendors in the Pacific livelihood in Pacific marketplaces has slipped who know many things, such as the timing of away from many development policy-makers crop planting and harvesting and how best to and practitioners who focus solely on infra- transport, refresh and display produce. They are structure development and financial inclusion knowledgeable about who is best suited to (Banthia et al., 2013). While infrastructural and plant, harvest, cook and/or distribute produce, financial inclusion projects have their place, as well as how current relationships, networks they are insufficient for addressing the unequal and opportunities are affected by past connec- power relations that negatively impact on mul- tions, alliances and conflicts. Women market tiple aspects of women’s lives. We argue that to vendors, like so many other women, are often deal with the enduring nature of gender also coping with unpredictable and often inequality requires a more radical approach to violent events in their community, family and empowerment (Batliwala, 2007; Kabeer, 2010), personal lives.

The second feature is that women need to be development project unfolding throughout the recognised for their diverse economic practices, Pacific, the upgrading of marketplace infrastruc- that is, the diverse ways in which they contrib- tures in the name of women’s safety and eco- ute to the economy (see Gibson-Graham, nomic empowerment. We realised that together, 2008). This allows them to, for example, finance our different experiences and engagement in family health and education, and improvements the broad concern for decent and enabling in living conditions like purchasing lamps, workplaces and gender equality converged in a mattresses, mosquito nets, and pots and shared conceptual framework. This framework pans. Women’s economic contributions sup- challenged dominant thinking, and congealed port households and community institutions, around a social justice and social change through customary gifting and feasting, sponsor- approach, by focusing on how to ensure that ship of religious and sporting events, school fees women market vendors in the Pacific were and community fundraising for the building and ‘radically’ empowered. maintenance of schools, clinics and churches. Each of us drew on our own research and Rural local governments and large urban experience working with women market municipalities, and wider regional economies, vendors in the Pacific to develop a guiding con- are also supported by the income women earn ceptual framework – the radical empowerment from ‘marketing’, through the taxes generated of women. For one of us, this was over three and fees imposed at various points along the decades of work; for others, it was more recent. supply chain, including in the marketplaces We met in various pairs, at various times, and themselves. we lived in different parts of the Pacific over the In this paper, we pay particular attention to time we were working around markets. This women market vendors and their struggles for made face-to-face meetings for all four of us empowerment, arguing for their recognition impossible. None of us were able to make the as active and productive income earners, as same intense commitment to writing at the well as key political agents. For this to happen, same time because we were all variously democratic and inclusive market vendors’ involved in other livelihood activities. Never- associations are essential. Women must be theless, we committed to demonstrating another permitted active membership and leadership form of hybrid research collaboration–aPacific opportunities so that they can influence market feminist action writing collaboration – because governance and gain entry into formal local we felt equally strongly about the importance of level governance (see Meagher, 2014). This presenting an alternative reading of the main- approach also draws attention to other ways in stream analysis of marketplace development in which women’s empowerment can be ‘radi- the Pacific and the possibilities offered when cally’ advanced, such as through the develop- women’s rights are placed at the centre, an ment of supply chains and alternative forms of approach that others still regarded as ‘radical’. credit and insurance. As collaborating authors and researchers, we This paper emerges from a commitment to have a combined, long-term experience of build cooperative, hybrid research collabora- working variously in the development ‘sector’, tions in development. Existing conceptualisa- as market-going citizens, residents and neigh- tions of collaboration in development research bours of urban and rural communities in do not capture the full suite of arrangements the Pacific; as members and as leaders of between differently situated people involved in community-based and local and international development (Aniekwe et al., 2012). Cave et al. non-government organisations (NGOs); as (2012: 39) argue for the need for social science scholars, researchers, consultants, activists and scholars to work across university–community development professionals. The knowledge and boundaries and in doing this, to ‘bring our loca- analysis that we bring to the issue of changing tion, networks and knowledge together with market culture in the Pacific demonstrate that others in a critical collaborative manner’. In this substantive analysis generated by women from case, the research collaboration that underpins diverse and shifting ‘locations’ and roles, who this paper came about through a shared goal share a common vision of and commitment to of developing an analysis of a contemporary gender justice, can provide distinctive policy

308 © 2014 Victoria University of Wellington and Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd Changing market culture in the Pacific and research insights. Our continued conversa- whose story of activism is a more recent one tions and collaboration in scoping, researching, of overcoming the marginalisation and disem- analysing and planning for better markets have powerment in a huge city market, and commit- been crucial for a coherent conceptual frame- ting to give many different groups of vendors work to emerge, one that captures the diversity voice. We also examine the challenges of of our experience and analysis, and enables implementing a transformative governance pro- ongoing intellectual agility. Moreover, compro- gramme and developing infrastructure that mise, patience and trust have been, and are enables and enhances women’s empowerment integral to our research and writing processes. at the Honiara Central Market. In writing this paper, for example, we have struggled to combine narrative and other meth- Why the focus on women in marketplaces in odologies of data gathering, analysis and pres- the Pacific? entation that satisfy our various approaches to development research, policy and practice, as From a practical perspective, women market well as the communities we belong to and rep- vendors and leaders are critical to the transfor- resent. We are engaged in a long-term exchange mation of marketplaces in the Pacific. Yet their that builds on our continued engagement with absence as key players is notable in recent market vendors and managers in Papua New development initiatives that prioritise upgrading Guinea (PNG), Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and physical infrastructure, where women vendors Fiji, and to a lesser extent in the Cook Islands are largely excluded from planning and and Samoa, and our commitment to honing a decision-making on infrastructure design (see participatory and collective concept. e.g. UN Women, 2012). New initiatives focus- A radical approach to gender justice in the ing on women and markets have gained Pacific takes an explicitly critical feminist increasing legitimacy among development approach. This means committing to transform- actors and the general public as people can see, ing the structures and processes that contribute for example, new signage, new buildings and to entrenched gender inequalities. This requires new media attention. Despite a shared ‘will to a comprehensive understanding of the com- improve’ (Murray Li, 2007) among stakeholders plexities of women’s lives, which is usefully and significant engagement in marketplace gained by being part of Pacific communities ‘improvement’ projects, key initiatives have not, over a significant period of time. Second, we however, included a rigorous process for ana- recognise the multiple subject positions of our lysing and responding to women’s infrastructure women friends and kin and our colleagues, priorities and constraints, and women market whose lives in the Pacific we are part of. We vendors, especially the poorest, remain periph- work alongside them and with them because eral to market improvement programmes. The ‘at the end of the day, it is those on the ground processes by which these new inititatives came who will lead successful projects’ (Cox and about, including the lack of consultation and Underhill-Sem, 2011: 303). abrupt removal of long-standing market places, In this paper, we first briefly describe the are very quickly overlooked. general situation facing women in marketplaces Since 2012, both the Australian and New in the Pacific. We then provide examples of Zealand governments have committed signifi- how women have been variously involved in cant resources to support the upgrade of the marketplaces in the Pacific, focusing on Fiji and largest markets in the Pacific, most recently Solomon Islands. We also briefly introduce NZD7million in April 2014 for Gordon’s innovative new practices in market governance market in Port Moresby, PNG (UN Women, in Vanuatu and the Highlands of PNG. The Fiji 2014). Capital-intensive projects are intended stories demonstrate how two very different to revamp degraded physical facilities which, women market vendors fit into the historical despite significant flows of money generated in development of markets in Fiji. One is a market and by marketplaces, have had little investment. vendor involved in four decades of struggle for A radical empowerment of women approach market women’s rights and representation, who would require all market development initia- heads the local vendors union; and the other tives to explicitly prioritise a process by which

© 2014 Victoria University of Wellington and Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd 309 Y. Underhill-Sem et al. women market vendors form organisations to ernments, and development agencies. This often represent their interests and reflect their priori- justifies misguided and discriminatory heavy- ties in market planning and development. This handed tactics by guards, some official and would also enable them to participate in other some self-appointed, because, in same places processes like research and project evaluation, for instance, they claim to be the original to ensure a democratic and transparent system owners of the land on which the markets stand. of market management and governance. As we In such processes, the complex and dynamic demonstrate, not only are there precedents for political and economic lives of women market this in the Pacific, but also there is willingness vendors are at stake. While there is a need by women to learn and to organise. to ensure women’s unequivocal rights to safe, It is difficult to deny the need to improve the secure and decent workplaces and livelihoods, physical infrastructure of urban markets of the it is also essential that interventions recognise Pacific, many of which were built in colonial and establish processes to ensure women retain days with little reference to indigenous aesthet- their freedom to be economic and social agents ics, environmental needs and constraints, or of their own making. vendors’ dignity, reality and needs. Increasingly, Women in the Pacific are accountable and grand new structures that can accommodate up responsible to complex, culturally distinct to 2000 vendors have been built (Mt Hagen, political–economic constellations of power. Kundiawa, Kokopo, Alotau and Wewak in PNG; This means that they are continually negotiating Auki in Solomon Islands; and Nausori in Fiji), power relations, all of which are gendered. but it is not evident that such new marketplaces Careful attention must be paid to the precise were built with women vendors’ input in the and diverse activities, interactions and eco- new location, architecture, space engineering, nomic participation of women market vendors transport links and amenity decisions. A new to ensure that the planned improvements for focus on marketplace infrastructure projects marketplaces in cities like Honiara, Suva, Port puts into place spatial arrangements based on Vila and Post Moresby do not redefine women ‘regimes of truth’ (Foucault, 1995). Through market vendors as lesser political subjects. New these regimes, women vendors can be more buildings, for example, but no real change in easily and efficiently controlled and taxed; they the status quo of male-dominated market man- might be required to trade from demarcated agement and vendors associations, will not (painted and numbered) allocated sections on enable empowerment of the majority of women counters or tables, or operate in similarly sub- vendors. The individual as well as the collective divided spaces on the ground or footpath to political empowerment of women must be display and sell their produce. More intangible central and foundational to these projects. but pervasive is the notion that local people cannot themselves plan, finance or participate Market places and market cultures in in the management and maintenance of large- the Pacific scale capital works, like marketplaces. As this ‘truth’ circulates and builds momentum, the Marketplaces in the western and central Pacific complex gendered reasons why most market- have a long history and now exist in many forms places decline and deteriorate get lost. Instead, (see e.g. Anderson, 2008; Epstein, 1961, 1982; technical interventions are made and the struc- Jackson, 1976; Pollard, 1996; Wang, 2014). The tural causes of poor governance and covert dis- most humble markets include many that have crimination, marginalisation and exploitation experienced significant neglect, decline, or wan- are overlooked. ton abuse and destruction over the past three to As Murray Li (2007: 122) correctly argues, four decades. They consist of women sitting long when technical interventions fail, and problems hours, exposed to the elements in a dedicated return, there is a heightened need expressed by and demarcated, but otherwise barren space. major donors for more intervention. These new Some markets are privately owned, often after interventions, however, require behaviour to be being taken over by self-proclaimed landowners. modified so that people comply with the self- Some appear quite informal, while others are imposed mandates of local and national gov- opportunistically hosted on the grounds of

310 © 2014 Victoria University of Wellington and Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd Changing market culture in the Pacific hospitals, schools and churches, or in the car safety, inadequate facilities and services for parks of large supermarkets. The colonial rem- hygiene and sanitation (especially in terms of the nants of early marketplaces – typically rectangu- needs of mothers and children), and limited lar cement blocks with a tin roof – remain in guarantees of safety, security and law enforce- evidence all over the region, some with their ment. Even when perceived by the general roots in the pre-colonial histories of places public and potential patrons as unhygienic, where villages would convene to barter and markets retain their predominance as a site of trade. vital fresh food trade, a vibrant connection point The most common market management gov- with indigenous events, economies, customs ernance model is one where local-level govern- and a communication channel between rural ments are responsible for employing a manager and urban populations. and support staff, making the by-laws and rules Markets remain important centres of eco- and collecting revenue, as well as carrying nomic and social exchange. Poor women rely out cleaning and maintenance of facilities and on them as a source of livelihood, no matter amenities, and waste management. To this day, how limited or fraught. Marketplaces are also they are likely to operate with by-laws written central to Pacific economies and food supply during the colonial era, circa 1960s, rarely chains, and most urban centres cannot func- reviewed or updated, poorly publicised, and tion without them. Contrary to the predictions arbitrarily administered. By-laws routinely of the 1970s, and partly due to the neglect and specify opening and closing hours, space allo- underdevelopment of rural infrastructure and cation, fee determination and collection service delivery, the volume of domestic food methods. They are translated into rules for basic production in the Pacific has increased and hygiene, sanitation and civility between man- marketplaces have become a central distri- agement, workers and vendors, and between bution point for this food production different vendors, and vendors and customers. (Benediktsson, 2002; Bourke, 2005). Market- The revenue collected is presumed to reach places in main urban areas, along major roads local government accounts, and in the large city and near ports have become increasingly and town markets, it constitutes a significant, important. These markets provide critical live- if not the largest, part of local government lihood opportunities for women market income. In some cases, it is the only revenue vendors, often their only entry into the cash source for local government besides grants allo- economy, as well as providing city dwellers cated by national government. with affordable nutritious food. Fresh produce Some of the markets are large and impressive is also more readily available to local small- institutions in central locations in towns and and medium-sized businesses, although supply cities. From the 1970s, established municipali- chains that bypass the marketplace are becom- ties invested in developing built marketplaces, ing increasingly evident with an increasing sometimes with the support of donors. In a few number of international large-scale supermar- cases, this was to meet the demands of women kets entering the supply and distribution chain. vendors (e.g. in Lautoka, Fiji) or of the few Due to their volume, low costs and proximity, women political leaders (e.g. in Port Vila and in however, marketplaces remain an important districts in Shefa Province inVanuatu). In spite of source of high-value, affordable fresh food their vast size and usually very central location in and nutrition. This is especially important in towns and cities, markets have existed in another the face of rising non-communicable diseases, political and economic space – a marginalised micronutrient deficiency and high rates of place – based on gender blindness regarding anaemia in urban contexts. Indeed, creative their economic importance.This marginalisation opening up of rules to permit local mini res- is linked to the dominance of women as market- taurants in marketplaces to supply cooked place vendors and has led to general neglect. foods and snacks could offer Pacific cities an Negative, gender-discriminatory norms have alternative to low-cost, low-nutrition imported emerged in this space of marginalisation and snacks and fast food, while providing ample disregard, and have become entrenched over supplies for the burgeoning of restaurants to time: poor standards of occupational health and cater for the cities’ elites.

Marketplaces as the site of merging gendered girl vendors are predominantly perceived as practices in development ‘domestic’ producers, vendors and buyers, and not as political subjects and dynamic and Marketplaces have recently been identified as opportunistic entrepreneurs (see Khanna et al., important sites of development practice. Schol- 2013). arly interest in marketplaces in developing In some regions, women market vendors have countries dates back to long-standing debates long been the source globally of development, on the role of the informal economy in the anthropological and economic analysis, and transition to modern economies (Lewis, 1954). particularly in Ghana because of the impact Three seminal research papers in the early of that country’s dramatic shift to an export- 1970s clearly established the need to closely oriented economy from the late 1980s onwards examine the ‘informal sector’ (Boserup, 1970; (see e.g. Konadu-Agyemang, 2000; Clark, 2010; International Labour Office, 1972; Hart, 1973) Britwum, 2013). Early comparisons between because the informal sector included pro- marketplaces in Melanesia and Africa (Keil, fitable and efficient enterprises as well as mar- 1977), however, hold less weight, given the ginal economic activities (International Labour globalising tendencies affecting consumption Office, 1972). Chen (2012) provides a useful and the growing impoverishment among the review of the historical interest in the nature and urban and peri-urban poor (see e.g. Mitlin and role of the informal economy, highlighting Satterthwaite, 2004). In other developing that women have long been recognised as con- countries, such as Liberia, there is a renewed stituting a high proportion of workers in the importance under the political leadership of informal sector, but concludes that ‘the informal women given to the role of marketplaces in economy as a whole is more heterogeneous and urban food supplies and in supporting rural complex than the sum of these perspectives incomes so donors continue to contribute to would suggest’ (Chen, 2012: 2). new or improved market building (Subah- There are a number of reasons for the recent Belleh Associates, 2007; Sirleaf Market resurgence of interest in the informal sector and Women’s Fund, 2014). In the western Pacific, specifically marketplaces (see Sirleaf Market however, few donors or local governments have Women’s Fund, 2014). Some reasons relate considered the need for new, more gender- to the unpredicted persistence, heterogeneity responsive models and systems of market gov- and complexity of the ‘informal sector’, and ernance as critical investments. The governance marketplaces specifically. The tenacity with of most markets continues to be entrenched in which people remain committed to market- gender-blind, anachronistic colonial by-laws places despite their many apparent chaotic and and management systems dominated by men. unsafe conditions, especially for women and for Reform is long overdue. Reproducing these traders, challenges mainstream notions that link outdated management systems in new market the transition of people from the informal to the buildings obstructs substantive qualitative formal sector to increasing national growth social, political or economic gains for the (Chen, 2012). Another reason relates to the phe- majority of women vendors. nomenon of women, and their empowerment, In Santo, Vanuatu, representatives of vendors being reinvented as essential to ‘smart econom- from around the island, local government staff ics’ (see e.g. World Bank, 2006). Such reasoning and NGOs have formed a committee that has also led to a focus on marketplaces as they are negotiated with the Provincial Council for an filled with women, have been vibrant for many increased role in market governance, including decades, and are strategic sites to address a reforming the financial system to enable inde- range of development issues related to poverty, pendent accounting of market revenue and food security, ‘market access’ and growth. Yet advocacy for its reinvestment in the market. In within these new rationalisations for turning to the new province of Jiwaka, in the highlands local markets, little attention is given to the region of PNG, markets in three district centres gendered power relations that underpin the have deteriorated because old market buildings daily marketplace dynamics, opportunities and are too small or uninhabitable. The sites now risks. We argue, that this is because women and exist as barren plots, fully appropriated by

312 © 2014 Victoria University of Wellington and Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd Changing market culture in the Pacific landowner families, whose male members from PNG, Vanuatu, Fiji and the Solomon demand daily fees from women vendors who Islands. We convened and shared to hear and submit because they have no other income- learn from each other, and to document the generating place or options. These market land- nascent and ongoing efforts to change gendered lords earn NZD400–1400 per day per market power relationships in markets. This included with no accountability. consideration of the recent appointment by the In 2013, a local women’s rights NGO in the Town Council of a female manager of the Highlands of PNG, Voice for Change, began Honiara central market, an unprecedented rec- lobbying for new market models that could ognition and opportunity in Solomon Islands. generate revenues sufficient for progressive Two women market managers were appointed improvement and expansion, including renting in municipal markets in Vanuatu, one in Vila spaces to local government, civil society and and one in Santo. Both were promoted from independent providers of key development their previous roles, one as a cleaner and the services. This model insists that women play other as a ‘revenue collector’. Women are also management and decision-making roles and managing some of Fiji’s smaller markets and encourages organisation and participation by some of the newly built markets in PNG (in all vendors – full time, part time and seasonal; Wewak, Kokopo and Buka). wholesalers, retailers, producer-sellers; and The new market manager in Honiara was diverse entrepreneurs and service providers. The intentionally hired as a well-known woman model emphasises that their co-location in one of integrity and a church leader, who had played social-economic hub could add value in multi- a significant role during the country’s armed ple ways that support and complement fresh tensions and post-conflict reconciliation pro- food sales and diversity of trade. It equally cess in the Solomon Islands (Pollard, 2000; prioritises transparency and reinvestment of Kabutaulaka, 2001; Amnesty International, profits, and recognises the increasing differen- 2004). She had an admirable track record of tiation among vendors and the need to accom- working with men and women in contexts of modate and harmonise their different needs and conflict, violence and corruption, although she contributions. did not have a management background, or a background of working with a strong gender perspective and analysis. In Solomon Islands Marketplaces and stories of change and PNG, only a few women have been Since the mid-1980s, there have been several recruited as market managers, principally to inspirational experiences of research involving stop the multi-level leakage of revenues. activists, vendors and women’s leaders in and The Melanesian Market Learning Exchange about marketplaces in the Pacific. For example, was hosted under the auspices of UN Women, one of us was engaged in such research in PNG (one of us was then heading the UN Women’s markets in Angoram in 1988 and in Kundiawa Pacific Office) and was deliberately scheduled in 1992, as well as an event/exchange at the Ba during the 11th Festival of Pacific Arts in 2012, market bure in 2013. In the following section, a regional cultural event held every four years we present two particular stories of change, one to ‘ensure and promote Pacific identity/culture in Solomon Islands and one in Fiji. in the future’ (Stevenson, 2012: 6). Firmly focused on indigenous peoples of the Pacific, over time the Festival has celebrated arts and Story of change 1: The Melanesian Market culture from the past, as well as contemporary Learning Exchange cultural expression. Holding the Learning In mid-2012, three of the authors co-facilitated Exchange during the Festival of Pacific Arts was a unique event in Honiara, a cross-country an opportunity and deliberate choice to Learning Exchange (the Melanesian Market promote marketplaces as important cultural, Learning Exchange) of women leaders and economic and social institutions and hubs with activists and market vendors who have engaged strong links to traditional economy and society, in marketplace change and development. The as well as an important place to trade local 10 women and one man who participated were food crops, local forest, marine and river

© 2014 Victoria University of Wellington and Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd 313 Y. Underhill-Sem et al. delicacies, and indigenous art and craft. reflections highlighted cases like that of a few Markets are one of the few places where wild women councillors transforming Vanuatu’s harvested and traditionally prepared foods are capital and remote district markets into thriving available to urban communities, and market markets-cum-social centres, hosting innovation vendors are essential actors in safeguarding and and social and economic exchange. Here, promoting Pacific food culture. The timing of town clerks, provincial administrators and local the Learning Exchange event was also designed policemen had recognised that women needed to give women market vendors a rare opportu- to be in the lead and working with local gov- nity to participate in an important regional ernment to effect lasting change in market gov- event. Far too often, women vendors miss out ernance. As this Learning Exchange proceeded, on mainstream social and cultural events, even vendors in Honiara market were encouraged when they take place in and around the market and supported to develop and diversify their or the surrounding town because they cannot indigenous and introduced fresh and processed afford to leave their contested spaces and com- food products for sale. A photo exhibition of petitive sales opportunities, simply because scenes from markets around the Pacific was every sale counts. launched to the wider audience of the Festival The conference room of the Honiara Central of Pacific Arts. A young and gender-sensitive Market manager’s office was our meeting- performance artist from PNG accompanied us, cum-training space for the Market Learning developed friendships with market vendors and, exchange. This venue gave the extremely busy with their permission, painted their portraits new market manager, her ‘helpers’ and some which hung proudly as banners throughout the women vendors opportunities to input and par- Festival. ticipate, when time allowed. Participants were The Learning Experience in Honiara affirmed invited from the Highlands Region of PNG, the central role of women in addressing the from Vanuatu’s innovative roadside immense challenge of providing safe, well- (community-based) markets and women-led managed, welcoming markets for the diverse district markets, and women leaders from large range and growing number of people currently and smaller vendors associations in Fiji’s two living in urban spaces in the Pacific (Lacey, biggest cities – Lautoka and Suva. These women 2011). The next story shows how, in different all had rich and varied work experience as locations and contexts, women market vendors teachers, vocational trainers, agriculturalists, continue to demonstrate that the radical empo- church leaders, book-keepers, seasonal agricul- werment of women can transform many lives. tural workers in Australia, clerks with local government and as human rights defenders in Story of change 2: The leadership and conflict-affected communities. Most also had influence of Fiji’s women market vendors direct experience working as market vendors. The Learning Exchange convened a sympo- In Lautoka, the second largest city of Fiji, there sium as a platform for market vendors, advo- is a huge market with the capacity to generate cates and an official to speak publicly about very substantial revenues to the City Council their market experiences from diverse perspec- through vendor’s taxes, vendor and customer tives. Women vendors shared triumphant stories fines, and ablution and parking fees. Behind this of mobilising women to form market vendors’ vast institution, is an apparently unassuming associations, of demanding gender responsive- vendor, Makareta Rika, now in her 70s, who has ness and accountability from local officials, been an activist, advocate, negotiator and union and of making the case for progressive market leader for vendors since the early 1970s. She models in newly formed municipalities. remains dedicated to her humble stall, selling Women also shared stories of struggle, exploi- traditional mats and tabua (traditional whale’s tation, indignity and abuse, common across tooth currency), both very important to the tra- countries and settings. As facilitators, we guided ditional custom, ritual and transactions among and connected the testimony, drawing conclu- Fijians. Makareta played a critical role in the sions about the structural and systemic con- formation of a vendors’ union following the first straints women face in markets. Testimonies and collective mobilisation and demand for proper

314 © 2014 Victoria University of Wellington and Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd Changing market culture in the Pacific buildings and shelter, followed by a heroic and her only option to make a living. There she strategically led strike in 1980. For 40 days and experienced fierce marketplace competition, 40 nights, vendors stayed out of the market, among the older, established vendors and the and picketed the local government to counter a newcomers. Mili began spending nights at the 500% increase in vendors’ daily stall fees which market, alongside the hundreds of others doing were planned once the newly built market was it tough, sleeping out in the open. Luxury was opened. Makareta has been voted back into sleeping in a cardboard lined wheelbarrow leadership of the union over many decades, and (rented from the ‘barrow boys’), instead of on locally her leadership is legendary. From her the cold ground. Flower vendors were treated stall, she keeps a watchful eye on daily market as though they did not exist, labelled ‘not real life, and from her home she performs an infor- or legitimate vendors,’ and therefore vulnerable mal hotline service for overnight vendors who to many forms of extortion, in the form of are harassed by drunkards or washed out by inflated, or double fees, while still being told to heavy rains. She keeps management, still mostly ‘find their own security’ and to ‘clean-up their men, accountable and responsive. She peti- own mess’. Mili started ‘foot-patrolling’ the tioned, for example, for women to be fee col- markets to talk to other vendors who slept lectors, and won; she arranged for a local overnight, investigating the exclusionary treat- child-minding service to be established adja- ment and inadequate amenities for rural cent to the market; and she is financial adviser, vendors. They are regularly denied a guarantee counsellor and negotiator for greater safety and to trading space and made to pay excessively security around the market. and ‘illegally’ for access to and use of toilets, Recent victories on behalf of vendors include washbasins and mirrors, and showers. Further, the banning of kava drinking in and around the these women vendors are told they are not real Lautoka market, especially after hours, and vendors, and therefore refused membership of insistence on police foot patrols to ensure safety the vendors’ union, which has fallen under the for rural women vendors who have to sleep control of a small and relatively wealthy elite in the open air, in their hundreds around the with a monopolistic grip on consolidated market at night, from Wednesday through to blocks of stalls inside the markets. Saturday afternoon. Indeed, by working with Mili is now making demands on the local and lobbying and challenging UN Women government, monitoring and reporting on the project planners, and after insisting on conduct- performance of the market manager and his ing many foot patrols of her own, Makareta has staff, challenging the exclusion of rural vendors facilitated financing of new and safe sleeping from the vendors’ union, and talking to the quarters for rural vendors. Makareta demon- media. Mili felt increasingly driven to investi- strated strategic leadership, empowerment, gate and to speak out. She has exposed many collective action and victory for previously problems, including the limitations of recent voiceless and exploited vendors. projects to provide overnight shelter for rural Mili, a Suva flower vendor, met Makareta vendors and a small sunshade for flower through a series of scoping and planning vendors. She has formed a cut flower associa- exchanges among women vendor leaders and tion and is strengthening the collective voice of local governments, first in Fiji, and then at the her peers. She also voluntarily oversees the Learning Exchange in Honiara in 2012. Mili is newly built rural vendors’ overnight accommo- 20 years younger than Makareta, and a survivor dation and continues to pressure market man- of two violent marriages – men who refused her agement and local government to do something right to work as a trained vocational centre about the distant, unsafe and dilapidated toilet teacher – which finally left her destitute and a block and the fees squeezed out of transiting single mother. After a stint working in Australia vendors who are expected to pay separate fees and overstaying her visa, she ended up in a to wash their hands, comb their hair, change detention centre, where she was noticed and baby nappies and more. Increasingly, she asked to teach English to African asylum spreads the message of vendors’ rights and seekers. Returning to Suva, she turned to cut market management corruption; challenge and flower vending in a corner of Suva market as change is in the air.

From 2010 to 2012, both Makareta and Mili to address gender equality and facilitate enjoyed the friendship of one of the authors, women’s empowerment. We suggest that a who was Head of UN Women’s Pacific Office at radical empowerment of women approach is the time, and her programme staff as they con- needed to ensure that marketplace develop- sulted and planned the current market improvement projects contribute to transformative shifts ment project. Many cold and wet late nights in current thinking: first, by recognising that were spent at the market, drinking coffee, women market vendors are informed politically recording testimonies, taking photos and astute stakeholders or ‘citizens’ of markets, making a documentary film. Makareta and Mili and second, by recognising that women mar- brought many women vendors’ voices into the ket vendors endure wider forms of disem- analysis, and this underpins the rationale and powerment while simultaneously contributing justification for radical change in the way busi- significantly to household, community and ness is conducted in two of Fiji’s largest and regional livelihoods. In practice, this would, for busiest markets. Makareta’s long journey to example, lead to participatory research, moni- organise and mobilise her vendors’ union, to toring and evaluation of projects, and the crea- protest, strike and advocate, has been docu- tion and implementation of policies governing mented and shared. Mili is speaking to many marketplaces which actively partners with people involved in marketplace improvements organised vendors. and has empowered herself and her peers to Our approach challenges development challenge the way market management uses the researchers, policy-makers and practitioners to label of ‘illegal trade’ to justify marginalisation explicitly engage in changing structures and and mistreatment of Suva’s flower vendors. practices that lead to inequality and harm, and Beyond the new donor-supported buildings, not just on the physical structures of market change driven by such women, with the solidar- buildings and related infrastructure. We have ity of donor partners, other women’s rights argued that new projects for marketplaces that organisations and feminist individuals, is critical fail to prioritise the elimination of gender to urgently needed structural and operational inequality run the risk of reframing changes as change. Market projects based on funding con- technical and infrastructural, and not addressing struction of new market buildings, and introduc- the gendered political and economic causes ing electronic cards to minimise risks associated of poor market management and oppressive with vendors or managers carrying cash are not conditions for women vendors. When the enough. The formation of democratic vendors’ economic contribution of marketplaces is not unions or associations, routine and institu- counted, it remains invisible and neglected, the tionalised dialogue and negotiation between exclusion and exploitation of women flourishes, vendors and local government/market manage- and important livelihood and local economic ment are essential if the future for vendors is to opportunities are missed. This paper demon- be better, more just and more socially, politically strates how women can be, and have been and economically empowering. empowered to engage in the development of progressive new marketplace models and practices in the face of long-standing patterns of Conclusion exploitation, abuse and neglect. Marketplaces Everybody wants to improve; indeed, in the provide livelihoods for the most marginalised case of marketplace development in the Pacific, women and men, engender new civic norms and there is a clear shared will to improve (Murray ethics, and have the potential to be flourishing Li, 2007). In this paper, we are not dismissing hubs of new market-based entrepreneurship, the rationale and intended outcomes of different creativity and local trade relationships, partner- development agencies to improve markets. ships and cultures. But this will only be possible Instead, we look at how the changes to market- when women market vendors are able to take the places have come about and what has been lead. This should not be such a radical notion, learnt from the past. It is clear that the gender but to some, it is (Kabeer et al., 2013). lens employed in the design, implementation This paper has made use of a cooperative, and monitoring of change is not radical enough hybrid research collaboration. The innovations

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