Feminist Footsteps: A View from the Pacific Women's Triennial Conference

22 countries and territories come together every three years for the Pacific Islands premier Women’s Conference and this year the 14th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women and the 7th Women’s Ministerial Meeting is a hybrid event bringing together decision-makers, development partners, research institutions and civil society organisations.

The theme of the conference “Our Ocean, Our Heritage, Our Future – Empowering All Women in the Blue Pacific Continent” is a reminder of the critical challenges affecting the progress of gender equality and women’s rights as outlined in the Pacific Platform for Action for Gender Equality and Women’s Rights (PPA).

According to the Secretariat, “the Triennial Conference for Pacific Women plays a key role in linking to other intergovernmental fora due to its convening of national women’s machineries and women’s rights organisations and is an opportunity to reflect on the progress in the implementation of the revised Pacific Platform for Action (PPA) on Gender Equality and Women’s Human Rights.”

It is one of the reasons why the conference is addressing the impacts of COVID-19 and natural and humanitarian disasters on women and girls in a number of the side events which began today (22 April, Fiji Time).

Plenary themes include Women’s Economic Empowerment, Gender based violence and Gender Responsive Climate Justice which will be an opportunity for Flora Vano, the Country Programme Manager of ActionAid Vanuatu to talk about women-led innovation, including coordinating Woman Wetem Weta since 2019, to support women’s leadership in and climate-related disasters: “Local women took part in a series of trainings where they learnt to read weather maps and create SMS based weather warnings”.  

In the midst of crisis, women have organised.

In 2020 Woman Wetem Weta was activated not only as category 5 TC Harold bore down on Vanuatu but also to support the Ministry of Health ensure COVID19 prevention and protection outreach resulting in a combination of SMS and in-person messaging for remote areas, reaching 77,000 people or nearly a quarter of Vanuatu’s population

ActionAid, along with its partner Vanuatu Young Women for Change, met with 167 women from East and West Malo as part of its Rapid Needs Assessment following Tropical Cyclone Harold. The cyclone hit Vanuatu on 6 April impacting an estimated 159,000 people. Heavy rainfall and strong winds destroyed houses, businesses and agriculture across Vanuatu’s northern region. Malo Island in the Sanma Province was hit particularly hard with many people still living without shelter, water and adequate food. 

ActionAid’s community consultations with women on Malo Island provided a space to understand women’s experiences, the immediate household needs and priorities for humanitarian response. Women have highlighted a lack of access to clean and safe water as a major concern, which is impacting menstruating women and causing hygiene issues. All reported that their houses had moderate to severe damage, and women small business owners shared that these have been badly affected or destroyed. Women also reported an increase in violence against women following the cyclone, and an absence of a police post in Malo to intervene. 

Through the consultations women also had space to describe firsthand the distress caused by the cyclone and their efforts to recover.

According to an AAV report, one woman said: “When our house was blown away, my husband, my children and my sister ran and hid under a Pandanus tree. We hid there until the wind stopped. We were cold and terrified but we held each other tight until the wind subsided. For a day we slept outside until we were able to put up a shed and move into it. We are still rebuilding our house while at the same time trying to plant some food so that we do not go hungry when our donated bag of rice runs out.”

Led by ni-Vanuatu women, the assessment demonstrates localisation in action by empowering women to lead during times of crisis. It builds on two years of investment under the Shifting the Power Coalition to support Pacific women’s leadership in humanitarian action, where both ActionAid Vanuatu and Vanuatu Young Women for Change are active members, along with the Vanuatu Disability Advocacy and Promotion association.  Now under the Australian Humanitarian Partnership, local women are being resourced to lead the emergency response, alongside other humanitarian actors.

Vano will follow in the footsteps of Pacific feminists who have addressed the main conference which is an opportunity to engage with government officials and development partners.

This year they are looking to identify strategic and practical measures, and propose recommendations towards gender equality and the full realisation of women’s human rights in the Pacific. According to the Secretariat: “The 14th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women and Women’s Ministerial Meeting involves a series of meetings and consultations aimed at sustaining the momentum towards gender equality in the Pacific. It includes one virtual, regional consultation with government line ministries, feminist and women’s rights organisations, faith leaders, media, private sector, and young women. Outcomes of these meetings will form the basis of engagement in other regional intergovernmental meetings, including the 2021 Pacific Forum Leaders Meeting, and a regional reflection on various COVID-19 assessments and impact studies.”

SPC hosted the first triennial conference of Pacific women more than 40 years ago with the purpose to create a space where Pacific women could meet, share their experiences, and identify measures for the advancement of women. At the 4th triennial conference of women and 1st Ministerial conference on women and sustainable development held in Noumea in 1994, the region adopted the Pacific Platform for Action for the Advancement of Women and Gender Equality (PPA) that formed the basis of the Pacific region’s participation at the 1995 World Conference for Women in Beijing.

The PPA identified 13 critical areas which included: health, education and training, economic empowerment, agriculture and fishing, legal and human rights, shared decision-making, environment, culture and the family, mechanisms to promote the advancement of women, peace and justice, gender-based violence, poverty reduction, and indigenous people’s rights. The triennial conferences became the monitoring mechanism of the PPA, which provided an opportunity to review progress and obstacles for the advancement of women.

Find out more: https://www.spc.int/pacificwomentriennial