Announcing Australia’s ‘new aid paradigm’ in June 2014, Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, said: ‘We will focus in particular on women’s economic empowerment — on promoting women’s leadership in politics, business, communities and families and on eliminating violence against women and children’.

The link between women’s economic empowerment and the elimination of violence is pertinent in Papua New Guinea. Significant and persistent gender disparities limit the capacity of all Papua New Guineans to benefit from the country’s wealth of natural and human resources.
This In Brief highlights the importance of work-place support for women’s economic participation.