Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1694859842448.pdf (Australia)
Parliamentary Submission – The human rights issues confronting women and girls in the Indian Ocean – Asia Pacific region.

This submission addresses the following points listed in the Terms of Reference: • Barriers and impediments to enhancing the human rights of women and girls, especially regarding the impact of family and sexual violence, women's leadership and economic opportunities.

• Implications for economic and social development in the region of promoting women and girls' human rights.
This submission predominantly addresses the situation of women in the Pacific region, however many of the issues faced by women of this region overlap with the challenges faced by women in the Indian Ocean-­‐Asian regions.
This submission will deal primarily with three issues: • Women as unequal or lesser citizens • Women and levels of participation in leadership • Women and economic empowerment Equality -­ Women as Unequal or Lesser Citizens Gender inequality within the Pacific is a well-­‐acknowledged human rights issue, and expresses itself across social, cultural, political, and economic dimensions.
There are many instances of women being generally perceived of as either unequal or ‘less’ than men in a number of Pacific societies, and this is evidenced by the extremely high rates of violence against women (VAW), particularly domestic violence.

Statistics from the Secretariat of the Pacific Community outline levels of VAW that are extremely high including: 66% of women in Fiji, 68% of women in Kiribati, and we also see levels close to 100% in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG)i.
In addition to the alarmingly high levels of VAW, sorcery and witchcraft community sentencing has seen many women arbitrarily stoned to death or killed in PNG due to suspicions of ‘evil’ behaviour.

Human rights issues confronting women and girls in the Indian Ocean – Asia Pacific regionSubmission 48 Suggestions for consideration: The practice of Bride Price (particularly in PNG) needs to be addressed and gradually phased out.
Women are rendered chattels and possessions to their men and families so long as bride price remains.

Inequality will remain as long as women continue to be considered commodities.

Cultural attitudes towards the acceptance of violence against women is not only limited to changing the minds of men – many women also accept and even condone VAW.

Awareness raising must address that VAW is broadly accepted by many, even though it may not be overtly admitted.
Legislative reform in relation to VAW is slowly occurring in many Pacific countries, but this must be followed up with broad based community awareness raising that violence against women and girls will not be tolerated.

Palau and Tonga are yet to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and this should be encouraged.
Politics/Leadership -­ Women and Levels of Participation in Leadership While we have seen the political participation rates of women grow incrementally in the region over several years, the Pacific region still has the world’s lowest proportion of women parliamentarians.

As of 2013, women represent 4.5% of all parliamentary members in the Pacific.

Arab States have the next lowest rates at 15.9%.


Numbers for the Pacific region are often combined in with data from Australia and New Zealand, which skews the picture to make it appear like female participation rates are much higher than they are in reality.

In order to address this discrepancy, male champions of change are necessary to help shift the perspective that the leadership, influence and contribution of women across all strata of society in both public and private spheres is very important.
Furthermore, young girls need positive female role models, in positions of leadership, so that they too can envision themselves in similar positions.

Currently the burden of household work as well as caring responsibilities for children and the elderly falls to women.

Equitable sharing of household responsibilities must become a focus if Pacific women are to have the opportunities to participate in politics and take on leadership positions within their communities and further afield.
Suggestions for consideration: Quotas for political parties and other temporary special measures to increase women’s parliamentary participation rates in a number of countries have proven Human rights issues confronting women and girls in the Indian Ocean – Asia Pacific regionSubmission 48 very successful and seen sky-­‐rocketing female participation rates -­‐ particularly in French Pacific territories such as New Caledonia.
Reserved seats for women need to be urgently considered by governments in Pacific countries, looking to proximal examples such as those in Bougainville and New Caledonia.

There are many studies that demonstrate effectiveness of temporary special measures to increase effective female representation.

As we see demonstrated in the community and corporate sectors throughout the Pacific, there is a significant talent pool of women to draw on.
Women in the Pacific do have the potential to take on positions of leadership in the formal political sphere, but politics has long been seen as a ‘male domain’, and it will remain predominantly so unless there is a ‘trigger point’ such as quota requirements.

While these measures may only be necessary on a temporary basis, the have been proven to encourage political parties to look further afield than the often powerful and influential men who muscle their way in to circles of power.
Measures such as quotas must also be supported by civil society efforts to increase women’s political representation, by fostering/mentoring strong female candidates to stand for election and continuing to support them throughout their terms.

Male champions of female participation in politics must be encouraged to continue their efforts to support more women across all levels of government.
In championing the importance of more women in politics, it is important to position the lack of female representation as a loss for society.

Communities lose important insights and wisdom of women when they do not have women at high levels of advocacy.

The Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) needs to be more effectively mainstreamed into all Pacific signatories’ legislation, and the countries that are yet to sign (Tonga, Palau) should be lobbied to do so.
Simple grassroots level exercises outlining household responsibilities can be useful in demonstrating to both men and women the amount that is largely shouldered by women, and can provide a useful platform for discussing how to more evenly distribute household responsibilities.

Economic Access -­ Women and Economic Empowerment Legal impediments to women being able to own land and resources without male sponsorship or support exist throughout the Pacific region.
Human rights issues confronting women and girls in the Indian Ocean – Asia Pacific regionSubmission 48 Without access to or influence over cash and assets, women are often highly dependent on their husbands, severely limiting their capacity to pursue their own financial opportunities and leaving them (and their children) vulnerable to potentially untenable situations within the home.
Economic inequality and women’s subordination under men within households, particularly in relation to household decision-­‐making is a significant issue.

Women continue to lack equal access to and control over financial, natural and other material resources, reducing their capacity to ensure personal empowerment, independence and self-­‐realisation in their every day lives.
Suggestions for consideration: Lobbying Pacific governments for legislative reform to enable women to own their own assets and land (for example, in Tonga).

Move away from the model of relying on microfinance to create entrepreneurial spirit amongst women – and instead look to building longer term resilience and sustainability of potential enterprises by building potential female entrepreneurs’ capacity with a strengths-­‐based approach, and participatory development techniques.
This approach works with what communities already have at their disposal, encouraging a move away from external dependency – and always ‘looking outside’ or waiting for help to appear.

This approach has had significant success in the Philippines and Indonesia, and is currently being piloted by the Centre for Social Change and Community Support Network Fiji within communities on Viti Levu.
Any initiatives designed to increase female participation rates in the formal economy need to build on women’s existing networks and practices in the informal economic sector.

i For further information on these statistics, please see: http://www.unicef.org/pacificislands/evaw.pdf Human rights issues confronting women and girls in the Indian Ocean – Asia Pacific regionSubmission 48