'Nothing about us without us': Pacific women gather for triennial conference

Women are breaking the glass ceiling across all sectors to reach the top, inspiring millions of men and other wāhine to overcome challenges, balance personal and professional lives, and follow their dreams.

But are men paying attention to the issues affecting women?

Rights advocate and Pacific media executive Netani Rika says men must wake up to this and pay extra attention to the role of women in society.

"It can be quite sobering, some of the issues which affect women, especially as men when we don't, we sometimes go way above our heads and we pay little attention to these things," Rika told Pacific Mornings' William Terite.

"It's a wake-up call to pay more attention to the role women play in our society and what we can do for them in return."

Watch the women break into song at the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women in Majuro, Marshall Islands.

According to research, socially constructed differences in roles and responsibilities, status, and power between men and women contribute to differences in mental health, health-seeking behavior of those affected, and responses of the health sector and society as a whole.

Female leaders, representatives from civil society organisations, and development partners from the Pacific region are gathering in the Marshall Islands this week to assess advancement at the Triennial Conference of Pacific Women.

The two-day gathering in Majuro marks a crucial milestone in the region's ongoing pursuit of gender parity.

Since its inception more than 40 years ago, and the adoption of the Pacific Platform for Action for Gender Equality in Women's Human Rights, the conference has been the primary mechanism for monitoring the progress outlined in the 2018-2030 action plan.

Rika, the Publisher of Islands Business and Fiji Traveler magazines, is a former editor-in-chief of The Fiji Times newspaper and an award-winning journalist with decades of experience in the industry. He's also a community educator passionate about the re-examination of Fiji's past through oral history.

Speaking to Terite on the sidelines of the conference, Rika said the discussions included the health of women and girls, gender-based violence, and the "linkages between these three important and crucial issues in the Pacific at the moment".

"Climate change affects the status of women and especially girls in the community and as temperatures rise, studies show that violence against women and girls is rising at the same time. And there's a definite link between these these two events.

"The women at this conference recognise that collective strength and action are fundamental in progressing gender equality. They've seen the need to stand together on these issues.

Marshall Islands President Dr Hilda Heine addresses the conference in Majuro. Photo/Pacific Islands Forum

"There are calls for greater regional solidarity and building better relationships with men who still hold a large sway of opinions in the region."

Addressing the conference, Marshall Islands' President Dr Hilda Heine shared cultural wisdom on the nation-building resilience of women in her country.

"A mother, Jined ilo Kobo, helps to nurture and weave the society, therefore building a nation. That is our role. That is what we do. It is in our DNA," she told the meeting, featuring high-level leaders across the Pacific including Tuvalu's Prime Minister Feleti Teo, and Vice President of Palau J. Uduch Sengebau Senior.

"Advancing women is a process that has been in place for some time and continues today. Leaders stand on the shoulders of those women who came before us, many had no clue about the PPA or what feminism is all about, yet their roles as Jined ilo Kobo called for them to be involved and to push the boundaries.

"Similarly, it is the responsibility of current women leaders to nurture and mentor the next generation of women leaders, the leaders of tomorrow."

The 15th Triennial will be followed by the 8th Ministerial, with the Pacific Islands Forum's Women Leaders Meeting rounding off the historic week of hosting for the PacificCommunity and RMI.

Forum secretary-general Baron Waqa is also in Majuro, accompanied by PIFS' director policy Virginia Dawson and her team.

Rika said the focus of both meetings included creating policies and legislation to bring about greater parity between men and women in the Pacific.

Delegates at this week's Conference on Pacific Women in the Marshall Islands. Photo/Islands Business

"And how to use cultural and even theological platforms to bring about greater recognition of women, greater protection of girls, and ensure a higher quality of life.

"Some of the things that have been discussed included the need to increase efforts to ensure the gender-responsive approach to gender-based violence, the increase in education and awareness about issues which affect women and girls, even addressing menstruation and provision of better health services around menstruation for Pacific women and girls, ensuring that men are respectful of the needs of women and trying to ensure that policies around matters which affect women and girls are brought into legislation around the Pacific."

On gender-based violence, Rika said every Pacific culture had a specific and special place in which women were honoured and loved.

He said over the years and decades, there was some erosion of how men valued women and children, particularly their daughters.

"There is a definite need for us to rediscover the special place that women have in our society. And I mean more than just the people who care for us, they are the first educators, and they are the first health workers in many of our villages and communities. But we need to value that much more than we do at the moment."

It's only fitting that discussions for a resilient and sustainable Pacific are being led by women and held in a country that is headed by a female president.

Highlighting some of the Pacific's inspirational female leaders, Rika said one of the emerging women was Ariana Kilner, the head of the Nuclear Commission here in the Marshall Islands.

Pacific Islands Forum secretary-general Baron Waqa is also in Majuro to attend the Conference on Pacific Women. Photo/Islands Business

"She's been very outspoken on the need for reparation for the victims of nuclear testing, which happened here over 70 years ago.

"The fallout, if we can use that term, from the nuclear tests of the late 40s and early 50s, continues to be felt in the Marshall Islands. Birth defects, miscarriages, and high prevalence of cancers among women.

"Seventy years later, it's still happening. And Ariana Kilner is one of those young women who are out there at the forefront trying to ensure that the United States makes good on what its nuclear tests have done, that there's justice for the women and the people of the Marshall Islands who have been affected by nuclear testing including those who have been forced out of their homes."

Rika said governments needed to pursue gender parity.

In the Pacific, there has to be a political will for parity to come about, he added.

"The role of government is critical. The need for women to be involved in the governance mechanisms.

"In Fiji, there's the Assistant Minister for Women, Sashi Kiran, who's trying to bring about not only parity for women but parity between different communities in her heading the Truth and Reconciliation Committee of government there.

"So, women have a huge role to play and they must be included in all these discussions. There's a saying, 'Nothing about us without us'. We can't discuss women without having them in the discussions."

The meetings end on Friday.

Watch Netani Rika's interview below.