While there is great potential in the marine resources of the Pacific, the scarcity of land points to the lack of natural land resources. Hence, the region has become reliant upon human resources to a great extent. In many island states, remittances from overseas have formed a substantial part of the national economy. In addition to family members who live overseas and send money back home, some island nations have steady remittances from locally trained seamen working on foreign ships. The latter situation has led to a gender imbalance in these island communities and is likely to have caused some gender inequity in employment. Nonetheless, women have an all-encompassing role of vital significance, socially, culturally, economically, and politically. This presentation focuses on Pacific island women – the resource at the core of the Pacific potential – and draws from information recently obtained from four countries: Fiji, the Marshall Islands, Samoa, and Tonga