- Ending Violence Against Women and Girls
- Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
- Women’s Economic Empowerment
- 7 myths about women’s rights in the Pacific
- Grants Supporting Women’s Rights
- Resources and Research
Read more: https://hrsd.spc.int/pwl-spc/evawg
Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
For people to attain the highest standard of health they must first be empowered to exercise choice in their sexual and reproductive lives, and they must feel confident and safe in expressing their own sexual identity, according to PWL partner International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).
Women’s Economic Empowerment
Women’s empowerment and economic participation are central to sustainable development, sustained poverty reduction, plus realising women’s rights and gender equality.
Economically empowered women have access to and control over resources, enabled by a supportive social and political environment. This includes women’s equal opportunity with men to have control over income and assets, access to decent work, social protection, control over time and equal participation in economic decisions from the household to international levels.
Read more: https://hrsd.spc.int/pwl-spc/wee
7 Myths: Women’s Rights in the Pacific
“Gender equality is a western concept and has no place within Pacific culture” is one of the seven common myths highlighted in the ‘Thematic Brief: Myths about gender equality in the Pacific.’
The Thematic Brief provides a broad summary of information and analysis about common myths about women’s rights and gender equality in the Pacific and their underlying issues, referencing latest research and publications. The brief has been updated in 2023 by Pacific Women Lead, based on the original by the former programme, Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development (Pacific Women). It details the underlying issues relating to these seven common myths about gender equality in the Pacific:
- Gender equality is a Western concept and has no place within Pacific culture.
- Many Pacific women have high social standing through their traditional social and cultural roles.
- Religious teachings justify gender inequality.
- Women and girls are more at risk of sexual violence from strangers than from people they know.
- Violence in the home is a private issue.
- Nowadays, bride price is a simple and uncomplicated traditional practice.
- Sexual assault or violence against women is caused by women’s personal behaviour.
To read more about the underlying issues behind these myths, refer to the Thematic Brief: https://pacificdata.org/data/dataset/pwl-thematic-brief-myths-about-gender-equality-in-the-pacific
Grants Supporting Women’s Rights
Grant support is provided directly to civil society and other partners, along with SPC member governments, for their projects that support the rights of women and girls. Funding may also be provided to key initiatives or regional convenings focussing on women’s rights.
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.
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: https://pacificdata.org/data/group/pacific-women
For research on gender in the Pacific, refer to the Toksave Pacific Gender Resource, supported by PWL at SPC: https://www.toksavepacificgender.net/
