Gender Equality: Realty or Myth?

Ten years ago, the future looked bright beyond belief for Pacific women. In only their first gathering, Pacific ministers for women from all 22 SPC member countries and territories endorsed a blueprint for equality: the Noumea Declaration and its implementation plan, the Pacific Platform for Action (PPA).

The PPA, as it was subsequently dubbed, was taken as the Pacific position to the 4th UN Global Conference on Women in 1995. It earned kudos for this part of the world while we also signed on to the Beijing Declaration, its Platform for Action, and spent the next ten years grappling with the often emotive development goal: empowered women.

But the newest commitment on gender equality and women's empowerment, the UN Millennium Development Goals, has also issued a reminder on the need to promote gender equality and empower women. It's the third goal in a list of eight, and leads to the obvious question for us‹have Pacific women made real progress? And if not, why?

Those two questions are at the heart of the ŒCommitment or Tokenism?' theme developed by SPC's Women's Development Adviser Sivia Qoro for the 9th Pacific Conference of Women later this year. The theme may well raise thorny issues for some Pacific countries, and regional organisations will also have to look within for answers, says Qoro.

Women in classrooms...societal expectations can be changed.

What are the national offices in your country doing about the issues and concerns listed in the PPA as they relate to your women? Are activities linked to gender equality properly resourced, profiled and understood? Does the country enjoy a stand alone ministry for women? Is it one of many divisions in a ministry, or a desk in a corner of a community/development bunker? Does it enjoy a budget for Œgender mainstreaming' towards equality, or do staff get paid to turn up to offices that have next to no resources and no money to get work done?

To see just how far Pacific women have come since the UN Decade for Women in 1975, start at the top with political leadership. No Pacific woman has ever been addressed as president, prime minister or premier of any Pacific island member country. In 2004, Palau's Vice President Sandra Pierrantozzi, Cook Islands' Deputy Prime Minister Ngamau Munokoa, and Kiribati's Vice President Teima Onorio come close, but only New Zealand's Helen Clark has broken through the general trend of male-dominated Pacific Islands Forum leaders meetings.

Having so few women leaders raises the question of when that Œcritical mass' towards political equality will be reached. The North Pacific may boast two vice presidents, but none of the seven Micronesian nations have ratified the CEDAW convention, a global United Nations action plan, aimed at eliminating discrimination against women. In 2003, the Federated States of Micronesia passed a bill signalling it will move towards support for CEDAW, but even countries who have ratified have failed to meet reporting requirements. Only Fiji Islands, in a historic first for the Pacific in 2002, has submitted its first CEDAW report to the UN committee.

Let's also take a look at the single largest workplace sector in the region‹government jobs‹and question, as one Papua New Guinea news editor has, the gap between more women entering the paid workforce and the number of women heading government departments or reaching management level. "No such equation has occurred," the editorial noted,

"Nor does it seem likely to do so as long as governments continue to pay lip service to the training of women, and to the equality of opportunity they are guaranteed under the constitution. The ramifications of this ongoing bias affect much more than women's senior executive opportunities. They affect the whole status of women and the way in which men view the place (of women) in society. There can be little point in addressing gender issues and sexual equality when women are so clearly demeaned and discriminated against in the workplace."

At the other end of the scale, one may not even have to leave the house to face one of the clearest signs that action for PPA is still urgently awaited. Open a newspaper in Suva, where some of the strongest research/human rights centres on violence against women are based, and you will find reports of horrific crimes of violence against women and girls in Pacific homes on an almost daily basis. A Samoa Family Health and Safety project confirmed the universal trend: acts of violence, ranging from abusive language to beatings, to loss of life, are occurring in our Pacific homes.

Most of those at the receiving end are women and children. They lose time away from work or school, suffer long-term debilitating physical and psychological injuries, and often don't report what is happening because in virtually every case, the perpetrator is a family member living under the same roof.

Papua New Guinea, with its national capital district and health system facing the harshest impacts of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, is also a case in point that the first critical concern on the PPA agenda for action is the health of Pacific women and girls.

To see how gender inequality works, the issues of violence and HIV/AIDS provide a compelling reason why we should all care about unequal relationships between men and women.

HIV/AIDS is an illness, but the epidemic itself is about gender‹how Pacific boys become men while watching, learning, and expecting how Pacific girls go about Œacting' like Pacific women, and vice versa.

Leading Pacific researcher Dr Clement Malau notes the gender-laden issue of sexual safety. "Without the empowerment to negotiate, women will continue to be infected by the virus for reasons beyond their control," says Malau. This is borne out by the large numbers of positive women whose infection is traced back to their one and only partner. His solutions also link to other critical areas of PPA and prove how interlinked the list is. Support the education of girls. Give women the same opportunities as men in the workplace. Deal with poverty, sexual exploitation, and the better collection of gender data in our countries.

Malau is one of a small but growing number of Pacific men and women who can see the damage being done to equality work because of the way in which the gender word has been misused and misunderstood. Another point of view notes often the unequal situation of women is framed around "blaming men". As well, discussions on gender issues tend to be done in the main by women, and only on areas which affect women and girls. This has created further division and resentment rather than promoting gender equality, says Steven Vete, now a special adviser to the Pacific Islands Forum. "The role of women in educating and raising boys, and the role of men in setting examples is often overlooked. Men and boys can be a real force for change on gender inequality if gender is not identified as a women's issue."

Vete's comment, made to a UN conference last year on the role of men and boys in achieving gender equality, could now meet its moment, not least because the theme of the 9th triennial Pacific conference "Gender Equality: Commitment or Tokenism?" is a timely one. From gender indicators for the Pacific Platform for Action to institutions and laws in countries, policy analysis, gender budgets, globalisation and trade, culture, traditions and religions, and emerging issues covering HIV/AIDS and migrant women workers, this conference looks to be one of the bureau's most ambitious yet.

"I see it as an opportunity where Pacific ministers and officials can remember and renew their promise to act in the 13 critical areas," says Qoro. "We are not just looking at issues like health, education, decision-making, and culture. We are talking about what's needed to build a better Pacific for the future."