International Women’s Day: it’s about men, too

International Women’s Day: it’s about men, too

Thursday March 8, 2007, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Noumea:

March 8 is celebrated across the Pacific and the world as International Women's Day (IWD). The day celebrates the contribution women make to building just and prosperous societies – and underlines how much more society benefits when they have a voice.

“Studies show that women who are able to take an active part in family decision-making have healthier, better-educated children, and this has huge and positive implications for Pacific Island societies,” says Linda Petersen, Manager of the Human Development Programme at SPC.

International Women’s Day is also a day to take stock of progress towards a society where men and women have similar rights and opportunities, says Ms Petersen.

Pacific women can say that progress is being made towards equality, but too slowly. The key, to change, she says, is men taking part.

“The key to speeding up our progress to equality is partnership. That means that fathers, husbands, brothers, sons - all the men in a women’s life - back her right to be heard, take part in things that matter to her, and insist on her right to be safe from violence,” she says. The theme for this year’s IWD is Ending Impunity for Violence Against Women and Girls.

According to Jimmie Rodgers, a medical doctor and Director-General of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, “gender equality is not a threat to us menfolks. It is the unlocking of the opportunity that has always been there for our nations, but one that has always eluded us,” he says.

“If we don’t have gender equality at all levels of social, economic and political development, we are only operating at about 50 per cent of our total available brain-power - 50 per cent of our total available potential.

The main challenge, he says, is how nations make sure they are tapping into that 50 per cent. “I suggest that whether we men are in a remote village in Papua New Guinea or a large town in Fiji, whether we are fishermen or politicians, we each have a role to play in ensuring that the women around us – at home, at school, at work – are included and have a say.”

Dr Rogers says working for gender equality is about building a future for our children of which we can be proud. “It is about influencing a mind-shift for equal partnership between men, women, girls and boys in the process of nation-building.”

Speeding up progress to gender equality is the main theme of a major meeting to take place at SPC. The 10th Triennial Conference on Pacific Women and the Third Pacific Ministerial on Women take place from May 27 to June 1 2007 at SPC headquarters in Noumea.

ENDS

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