Advancing Gender Justice in Papua New Guinea: Domestic Challenges and International Strategies for Women’s Empowerment
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64391/ijssat.v1i3.004Keywords:
Papua New Guinea, gender justice, women’s empowerment, intimate partner violence, social norm changeAbstract
This review considers the progress made in gender justice in Papua New Guinea (PNG), with a focus on the tension between the domestic issues and international responses for women's empowerment. Drawing on data from national surveys, official reports and analyses of programs (2009-2025), the analysis highlights stubbornly high rates of intimate partner violence (58.3%), maternal mortality (171 per 100,000 live births) as well as low levels of female political representation (1.7%). Despite significant reforms introduced through the Family Protection Act and the UN's initiative on Women's Safe Cities, implementation has been patchy because of low enforcement, dependency on donors, and lack of norm change. Comparative analysis revealed that PNG gender disparities are higher than neighboring melanesian countries. Sustainable progress will entail embedding reforms within cultural and institutional realities, the engagement of churches and customary authorities to act as transformation agents, and locally-owned, norm-transformative interventions. The study highlights that gender justice is not only the result of legal reform, but also requires deep-rooted social transformation in PNG.
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Copyright (c) 2025 The Author(s). Published by the Colorado Social Science Research Academy, Denver, Colorado, USA.
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