If you have ever read my bio you’ll know that I list one of career specialisations as gender in the context of the Pacific. Almost half of my career so far has been dedicated to managing community development programs within this region. These roles meant that I travelled to PNG, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands at least 4 times a year each and looking back now I spent quite a lot of time in that region and got to know the Melanesian context quite well. The diversity within each country let alone across them all is one which is difficult to explain. Ethnically and linguistically the different islands and areas in the region represent varying backgrounds and ideals. However unfortunately what seems to be an overlapping context within them all is frighteningly high rates of gender based violence; the most prevalent of these being Intimate Partner Violence.
If you’re wondering how Intimate Partner Violence or IPV is classified it’s best defined as “referring to behaviour by an intimate partner or ex-partner that causes physical, sexual or psychological harm, including physical aggression, sexual coercion, psychological abuse and controlling behaviours”.
Emotional abusive acts and controlling behaviour are examples of Intimate Partner Violence which do not receive as much air play as they should. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) this type of abuse is defined by “being insulted or made to feel bad about oneself; being humiliated in front of others; being intimidated or scared on purpose; or being threatened directly, or through a threat to someone the respondent cares about”. According to a recent report produced by the WHO up to 75% of ever partnered women worldwide have been subjected to such denigrating, abusive and controlling behaviour within their lifetimes. Yes, you read that right…. Up to 75%!
The element of control within these examples is the component that sits at the heart Domestic and Intimate Partner Violence as a whole. I recall an incidence of negative fallout from a micro finance program which was delivered in the Solomon Islands. Within this initiative women were identified, trained and supported to access funds towards income generation. Whilst the initial results to the project were extremely successful as women’s income was being significantly increased, there was a harmful but hidden side effect that eventually emerged. Due to the women’s success they had quickly become the highest earning family member within their households. This then meant that they were inadvertently being subjected to violence and abuse from their husbands as a result due to the men viewing the increase of their wives agency as being threats to their masculinity and status as the ‘head of the household’.
Women through their economic empowerment were beginning to speak up in terms of how the money they earned should be spent. For many husbands in this context the challenge to traditional gendered roles within the household represented a threat to their manhood within the community for which they needed to demonstrate an ability to bring under control. Beating their wives was of course how they would undertake this.
This is only one of many examples of the types of Intimate Partner Violence that women are subjected to across the world. We need to remember that the fight for equality is not in fact a zero sum game but also that the dynamics of power relations and perceived threats to such contribute to staggeringly high levels of violence against women worldwide.
End. – Day 6.
*For further research on Domestic Violence in the Pacific please refer to: https://unwomen.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Eliminating-violence-against-women-in-the-Asia-Pacific1.pdf
& across the world as a whole: https://unwomen.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Eliminating-violence-against-women-in-the-Asia-Pacific1.pdf
I blog for Change. 