Women in the Pacific face some of the highest levels of violence in the world. An estimated 60 per cent of women and girls have experienced violence by an intimate partner or family member. Unequal gender relations and the exercise of male power and control over the lives of women and girls, in all their diversity, are both the cause and consequence of gender-based violence (GBV).
Women’s safety is achievable; violence against women and girls is preventable and can be stopped.
- Seven Key EVAWG Messages
- Technology-facilitated gender-based violence
- Grants Supporting EVAWG
- EVAWG Resources and Research
Seven Key EVAWG Messages
The following seven key messages outlined by the Pacific Women Lead (PWL) at the Pacific Community (SPC) programme, aim to explain the importance of working to end violence against women and girls (EVAWG) in the Pacific. More details are available in the PWL at SPC programme’s updated 2023 Thematic Brief for EVAWG.
- Women in the Pacific face some of the highest levels of violence in the world. An estimated 60 per cent of women and girls have experienced violence by an intimate partner or family member.
- Women and girls are at increased risk of men’s physical and sexual violence during a crisis, such as natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Violence takes many forms and women often experience multiple types of violence.
- Violence affects women first and foremost but also their children, families and communities.
- Physical and sexual violence limits women’s economic empowerment and has high economic costs for societies, including lost wages and productivity, health care and the criminal justice costs of apprehending, prosecuting and imprisoning perpetrators.
- The Pacific is developing a stronger legislative framework to protect women, but action is needed to implement these laws.
- Violence against women is reinforced by community acceptance and impunity for perpetrators.
Read more in the 2023 Thematic Brief updated by PWL at SPC: https://pacificdata.org/data/dataset/pwl-thematic-brief-ending-violence-against-women-in-the-pacific
Technology-facilitated gender-based violence
Gender-based violence (GBV) is prolific in the Pacific, with technology now offering perpetrators another channel to cause harm to the survivor of violence. Read more here.
Grants Supporting EVAWG
Grant support is provided directly to civil society and other partners, along with SPC member governments, for their projects addressing violence against women and girls (EVAWG). Funding may also be provided to key initiatives or regional convenings focussing on gender-based violence (GBV) for women and girls in all their diversity.
PWL at SPC programme grants support a wide of initiatives, as listed on the grants webpage.
The broader Pacific Women Lead portfolio – including all four delivery partners and not limited to SPC as the key implementing partner – supports more than AUD110 million in national, regional and other Pacific based projects to support women’s leadership and rights, including gender-based violence (GBV).
Resources and Research
More than 650 publications, feature stories and other resources are available on the Pacific Women Lead section of SPC’s Pacific Data Hub, including for EVAWG: https://pacificdata.org/data/group/pacific-women
For research on gender and EVAWG in the Pacific, refer to the Toksave Pacific Gender Resource, supported by PWL at SPC: https://www.toksavepacificgender.net/
