Politics and Patriarchy: Hurdles for Women in the Pacific

Tisha Shah | South Pacific Fellow

Commonwealth Secretary-General (left) with Prime Minister of Samoa, Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa (right). Image sourced from Commonwealth Secretariat via Flickr.

Despite the increasing emphasis on gender equality in international development efforts, women’s political participation remains tightly ensnared by patriarchal institutions and parochial gender norms. This is particularly true in the Pacific Islands, where the percentage of women in national parliaments lags at 7.1 per cent, well below the global average of 26.9 per cent. Colonisation and ongoing colonialism in the region have stymied progress and entrenched rigid, restrictive beliefs about women's roles in society.

Yet the Pacific is no monolith, and every nation faces a complex set of barriers to increased political participation. Regional institutions like the Pacific Islands Forum play an important role in promoting multilateral discussion and setting overarching goals. However, each country must seek solutions tailored to their specific electoral systems, cultural norms and stages of development.

While the entire spectrum of temporary special measures (TSMs) implemented to institutionalise women’s political participation cannot be fully explored in this article, Samoa’s and Papua New Guinea’s unique approaches demonstrate both the benefits of, and necessity for, locally created and tailored strategies in the Pacific.

Samoa

Samoa has been a leader in advocating for equality of participation. In 2013, it became the first independent nation to constitutionally mandate a 10 per cent gender quota in its Legislative Assembly. Samoa then elected Fiame Noami Mata’afa as its first female Prime Minister in 2021 — the second female head of state in the history of the Pacific Islands.

The bill’s success was aided by its introduction through Samoa’s male prime minister, and support from international and non-governmental organisations, highlighting the importance of both institutional and external actors in influencing advocacy campaigns. However, top-down TSM’s like the quota are most effective when accompanied by locally targeted soft policy initiatives.

Despite national progress, Samoan women’s voices remain stifled in local village governments that underpin the national political system, due to the regulations surrounding their appointment. Only matai – people granted a title either through their family lineage or village, who represent the village in local council matters – can stand for election in parliament. Women only make up 5.5 per cent of matai, and are not eligible to hold the title in 14 of 42 parliamentary constituencies.

Consequently, many women are still inherently disenfranchised from running for parliament.

Increasing support for local women’s grassroots organisations and improving candidate training for women can help reshape broader societal attitudes toward women in politics.   Alongside national institutional reform measures, empowering Samoan women at the local village level and addressing the gender discrepancies created by the matai system, will provide them access to and support in decision-making spaces.

Papua New Guinea

Meanwhile, political progress in Papua New Guinea (PNG) has been hindered by a variety of cultural, structural and attitudinal factors. Its 2012 bill to entrench quotas in its constitution failed at the legislative stage, receiving only 58 out of the 73 votes required. Efforts by women’s activists were foiled by perceptions that the legislation sought to impose ‘the UN’s agenda’ and that the change would ‘push at the boundaries of culture.’

Political power in PNG has historically been concentrated to ‘Big Men’ – men who wield significant financial and social standing in the community. Big Man politics, coupled with the highly corrupt and often violent nature of elections in PNG, further distance women from entering the political sphere. Widespread financial gender inequality and gender-based violence compound this power dynamic. Female candidates are less likely to have sufficient financial and logistical support and security to safely implement a campaign on the same scale as their male counterparts. This reduces their ability to develop ‘hanmak’ – the social impact of a candidate on the community.

Patriarchal speculation about women’s ability to handle political matters has also hindered their entrance and agential participation within tribal leadership structures. Like in Samoa, these leadership hierarchies play pivotal roles in shaping electoral outcomes. Consequently, progress has been incremental, with only two women being elected to the 118-seat Parliament in the July 2022 election. Indeed, the nation has only elected 9 female parliamentarians since 1972. Even so, Prime Minister James Marape rejects the need for special measures as long as both men and women are subject to an electoral environment that is ‘fair’ and free of corruption.

Generalising gender-specific political issues as broader electoral problems disregards sexist attitudes and structural barriers faced by women in leadership roles. Enabling equality of opportunity in PNG must encompass both democratic reform and gender-specific initiatives. Given PNG’s reluctance to implement institutional reform they should first strive for elections that are free from corruption and gender-based violence and provide women with opportunities to achieve hanmak.

Australian responsibilities

Australia, as the Pacific’s largest development partner, has a significant role to play in the struggle for women’s political representation, having contributed almost $5.5 billion in funding to Pacific gender programs between 2008-2020.

While Western nations are often paternalistic in their aid relationships, Australia’s Pacific Women Lead program bucks this trend. Designed to invest $170 million in advancing gender equality between 2021-2026, the program seeks to forefront Pacific Islander voices and ownership by collaborating with governments, communities and other women’s organisations in the region.

Time to act

 Empowering Pacific women to decide how best to tackle gendered issues, in place of an externally enforced development strategy, better enables their self-determination.  Australia must commit to understanding the drivers and complex manifestations of gender issues in the Pacific Island states. Analysing local contexts and targeting support mechanisms accordingly is crucial to the success of any initiatives to improve Pasifika women’s political participation.

Tisha Shah is the South Pacific Fellow for Young Australians in International Affairs. She is a fourth-year Bachelor of Law (Honours) and Bachelor of Economics student at the Australian National University, with a keen interest in the intersections between policy, economics and social justice advocacy.

Tisha is excited to investigate the South Pacific as an increasingly central region to international discussion, and to explore the complex nature of gender, security and climate issues within various Pacific nations. She is keen to study Australia’s continually evolving role as a key development and regional partner to the Pacific.