Intimate partner violence in Port Moresby: drivers and outcomes

Intimate partner violence (IPV) affects 80% of women in Papua New Guinea, a rate that may be the highest in the world. This blog draws on a sample of 152 cases (out of over 2,000 cases in total) maintained by the Royal PNG Constabulary Family and Sexual Violence Unit (FSVU) in Port Moresby for the year 2020, to understand the factors driving incidents of IPV in that location. It also examines outcomes of the cases in terms of justice for victims.

Disruptive Voices of the Pacific

Disruptive Voices of the Pacific is a podcast that seeks to disrupt the silence around taboo issues, especially those of abuse & porn. There is a crises in the Islands. 2 in 3 women are abused and yet Church attendance is the highest in the world. As Christians, we are called to speak and act against oppression and injustice. The church is called to be part of the solution not the problem.

Shifting the Power: Making a difference through gender and climate activism

In this episode of Pacific Change Makers, Dr Meg Keen speaks with Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls in Suva, Fiji about social activism in the Pacific. Sharon is the Regional Representative of the Shifting the Power Coalition, a Pacific Island feminist coalition working on challenges affecting the region’s future including climate change, social justice, and gender and community equality. 

She speaks with Meg about how her family and faith have motivated her to make a difference. They discuss how women and marginalised groups can be more prominent voices in society – in political settings but also in media, community and key social groups. Sharon works in professional and community networks to hold power accountable, deliver local solutions, and promote appropriate technology to build resilience.

Pacific Change Makers – Vanuatu MP Gloria Julia King on women, sport, and politics

In this episode of Pacific Change Makers, Dr Jessica Collins speaks with Vanuatu MP Gloria Julia King – a mother of four, and a former national football player who is the first woman to be elected to Vanuatu’s parliament in 14 years.

Ms King pays respect to women who trailblazed before her but says, more than four decades on from independence, little has changed for women trying to make a career in national politics.

When a family member works overseas: the good, the bad, and the differences by gender

Every year, thousands of low- and semi-skilled workers from the Pacific and Timor-Leste find short-term employment in both Australia and New Zealand’s labour mobility schemes. The economic gains from these schemes, mostly in the form of formal job opportunities, remittances and increased consumption, have been well documented. Yet, as the number of migrant workers increases, […]

Migration seems to be shifting gender norms in Tonga

This Development Policy Centre blog shares new data on gender-related views from the Tongan household survey component of the Pacific Labour Mobility Survey or PLMS – a collaboration between the Development Policy Centre and the World Bank, introduced in this earlier blog – then offers suggestive evidence that migration may be one important driver of […]

Annual Report 2021: UNFPA Asia and the Pacific

2021 was a challenging year for women, girls and young people in Asia and the Pacific. As the most disaster-prone region in the world, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic intensified pre-existing sexual and reproductive health inequities and jeopardised the trajectory of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) commitments and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) […]

Repositioning Gender: Past, Present and Future

Climate change is accelerating gender inequality, as climate extremes amplify inequalities, vulnerabilities, negative gender norms, with Gender-Based Violence (GBV) rates increasing during times of disaster. Yet the gendered experiences of climate change have to date been inadequately factored into climate law and policy-making, with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) traditionally limiting […]

Thirty years of the Vanuatu Women’s Centre: her story

This Development Policy Blog discusses the Vanuatu Women’s Centre’s (VWC) most recent publication, Thirty Years of the Vanuatu Women’s Centre: Her Story. The publication documents the organisation’s journey through the memories and experiences of over 60 former and current staff and supporters. The book was edited by Merilyn Tahi and Juliet Hunt, and was recently […]