scholarly journals The Decentralisation of Australia's Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment Strategy in Oro Province, Papua New Guinea

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Camilla Ethel Angoro
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Provincial Government ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Policy Document ◽  
Gender Policies ◽  
Gender Based

<p>Women’s empowerment is the most recent approach to women in development. The inclusion of women’s empowerment in development policies has recently gained traction in Papua New Guinea (PNG). However, the effectiveness of such policies has been questioned in its efforts to support local women to improve their lives. This study was undertaken to understand Australia’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) to PNG in terms of the contribution of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to supporting women’s empowerment in Oro province through the implementation of its Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Strategy 2016.  With the huge gender inequality gap in PNG and the rise in Gender-Based Violence (GBV), women’s empowerment is an approach that can contribute to helping local women improve their lives. The purpose of this study was to understand the trickle-down effect of Australia’s ODA to subnational organisations in PNG, and its contributions to women’s empowerment in Oro province. The study used a qualitative approach involving policy document reviews and interviews with research participants.   The key findings from this study show that there is no direct support to local women’s organisations in Oro province either from DFAT or the PNG government; there are some issues with implementation and ownership of DFAT’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Strategy and the PNG government’s gender policies in Oro province; and that women’s coalitions can be a vehicle for change in local communities in Oro province.  This study offers benefits to DFAT programmes in PNG, and to national government agencies tasked to review their gender policies; as well as the Oro Provincial Administration; the Oro Provincial Government; and the Oro Provincial Council of Women.   The study suggests topics for further research. It also suggests that DFAT’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Strategy, and its associated funding have the potential to improve women’s lives in Oro province and PNG more broadly.</p>

scholarly journals The Decentralisation of Australia's Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment Strategy in Oro Province, Papua New Guinea

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Camilla Ethel Angoro
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Provincial Government ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Policy Document ◽  
Gender Policies ◽  
Gender Based

<p>Women’s empowerment is the most recent approach to women in development. The inclusion of women’s empowerment in development policies has recently gained traction in Papua New Guinea (PNG). However, the effectiveness of such policies has been questioned in its efforts to support local women to improve their lives. This study was undertaken to understand Australia’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) to PNG in terms of the contribution of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to supporting women’s empowerment in Oro province through the implementation of its Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Strategy 2016.  With the huge gender inequality gap in PNG and the rise in Gender-Based Violence (GBV), women’s empowerment is an approach that can contribute to helping local women improve their lives. The purpose of this study was to understand the trickle-down effect of Australia’s ODA to subnational organisations in PNG, and its contributions to women’s empowerment in Oro province. The study used a qualitative approach involving policy document reviews and interviews with research participants.   The key findings from this study show that there is no direct support to local women’s organisations in Oro province either from DFAT or the PNG government; there are some issues with implementation and ownership of DFAT’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Strategy and the PNG government’s gender policies in Oro province; and that women’s coalitions can be a vehicle for change in local communities in Oro province.  This study offers benefits to DFAT programmes in PNG, and to national government agencies tasked to review their gender policies; as well as the Oro Provincial Administration; the Oro Provincial Government; and the Oro Provincial Council of Women.   The study suggests topics for further research. It also suggests that DFAT’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Strategy, and its associated funding have the potential to improve women’s lives in Oro province and PNG more broadly.</p>

scholarly journals Gender-based violence in Bougainville: Stories of change

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Viktoria Degerman
Keyword(s):  
Intimate Partner Violence ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
Physical Violence ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Intimate Partner ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
The Past ◽  
Gender Based

<p>Gender-based violence throughout Papua New Guinea is a well documented concern across disciplines. Within the field of development, gender-based violence is not only seen as a human rights breach, but it is widely accepted that violence exacerbates poverty, and that poverty exacerbates violence. Women are particularly affected by this cyclic nature of violence. Despite numerous initiatives from development actors, the Papua New Guinean government and local agencies, the rate of violence has not shifted in the past two decades (Ganster-Breidler, 2010). Similarly, in Bougainville, an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea, reports state that the rate of violence against women is extremely high. A United Nations study from 2013 showed that over 60 per cent of Bougainville men surveyed had committed rape at some point in their lives, and that physical violence was equally prevalent (Fulu et al., 2013).   In response to these worrisome reports, I began to wonder what can be done to address gender-based violence. What has been successful in the past and what can we learn from those who have firsthand experience of intimate partner violence?   The research addressed these types of problems through the use of 18 interviews conducted with men and women; including former perpetrators of intimate partner violence and survivors. The study was further strengthened by my observations from working at Buka Family Support Centre, a service in Bougainville that cares for survivors of gender-based violence.   I frame this research within feminist and poststructural ways of knowing. It is influenced by a four-tiered conceptual model that considers external and internal influences on individual actions. The analysis was inspired by Foucault’s discourse analysis (Foucault, 1979, 1984) and I pay special attention to dominant and discriminatory discourses and the resistance to these.   In summary, this study offers intimate and detailed stories of change. It reveals that the participants primarily referred to positive change as an absence of physical violence and not necessarily other forms of gender-based violence. The study also shows that the survivors’ resisted violence throughout the abusive period, and those who eventually chose to divorce only did so because of concerns over safety.   The stories are anchored to lived experiences, and the conclusion and recommendations that flow from this qualitative study contribute to knowledge of what works when trying to end violence within an intimate partnership in Bougainville.</p>

scholarly journals Tools for measuring gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE) indicators in humanitarian settings

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Céline M. Goulart ◽  
Amber Purewal ◽  
Humaira Nakhuda ◽  
Anita Ampadu ◽  
Amanda Giancola ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Human Development ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Easy Access ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Humanitarian Settings ◽  
Measurement Tools

Abstract Background Effective measurement of Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) is challenging in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), and even more so in humanitarian settings. Conflict, natural disasters, and epidemics may increase gender inequities, but also present an opportunity to address them. This scoping review describes and identifies gaps in the measurement tools, methods, and indicators used to measure GEWE in humanitarian settings, and presents a dashboard that can be used by researchers, organizations and governments to identify GEWE measurement tools. Methods Scientific articles published between January 2004 and November 2019 were identified using Embase, Medline, PsycInfo, CINAHL, Scopus, and PAIS index. Relevant non peer-reviewed literature was downloaded from the websites of humanitarian organizations. Publications on women and/or girls impacted by a humanitarian crisis in a LMIC, within 5 years of data collection, were included. Publications were double-screened in the title/abstract and full-text stages. We used a machine learning software during the title/abstract screening to increase the efficiency of the process. Measurement tools, sampling and data collection methods, gap areas (geographical, topical and contextual), and indicators were catalogued for easy access in an interactive Tableau dashboard. Results Our search yielded 27,197 publications and 2396 non peer-reviewed literature reports. One hundred and seventy publications were included in the final review. Extracted indicators were categorized into seven domains: economic, health, human development, leadership, psychological, security and justice, and sociocultural. The vast majority of studies were observational, and over 70% utilized a cross-sectional study design. Thirty-eight toolkits and questionnaires were identified in this review, of which 19 (50%) were designed specifically for humanitarian settings. Sociocultural was the largest domain in number of studies and indicators in this review, with gender-based violence indicators reported in 66% of studies. Indicators of economic, human development and leadership were uncommon in the peer-reviewed literature. Discussion While there has been some effort to measure GEWE in conflict-affected and other humanitarian settings, measurement has largely focused on violence and security issues. A more comprehensive framework for measuring GEWE in these settings is needed; objective measurement of women’s empowerment and gender equality should be prioritized by organizations providing humanitarian aid.

People

2020 ◽  
pp. 74-97
Author(s):  
Hannah E. Britton
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Women's Movement ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Community Leaders ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Community Organizers ◽  
Governmental Institutions ◽  
Gender Based

During the democratic transition, the South African women’s movement focused on creating governmental institutions for women’s empowerment. However, these institutions have not been sufficient to ensure social change. This chapter examines the stories of community leaders who are attempting to fill in the gaps and to address gender-based violence, as well as the stories of community organizers, religious leaders, and tradition leaders who challenge patterns of violence in homes, relationships, and communities. Relying on individual leaders and policy advocates is a tenuous model, given that success is linked to people rather than institutions, and people are not permanent. Similarly, while many community leaders break with “traditional” ideas of male superiority, others continue to deploy these norms to the detriment of women’s empowerment.

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