Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment

UNDP has a long history of supporting gender equality in PNG. It has been actively working on women’s participation in decision-making and leadership roles in the past two decades. 

UNDP Papua New Guinea has identified development challenges as diverse and complex as the country itself. To address these challenges, UNDP concentrates on building the country's capacity to promote inclusive, pro-poor growth, effective governance, and sustainable and resilient development. This includes promoting inclusive governance, justice and peace, supporting inclusive and sustainable growth, and encouraging sustainable management of natural resources, biodiversity conservation, strengthened climate and disaster resilience. UNDP emphasizes gender, climate change, social protection, and inclusive growth in all aspects of its work. Gender equality is at the core of its development programming for the PNG Country Office.

The UN is fully committed to the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse. In this regard, UNDP Papua New Guinea is committed to working in a coordinated manner to raise the awareness of staff and increase their understanding of the Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA), strengthen their systems on PSEA, improve accountability, and improve coordination and communication among the UN and partners relating to PSEA.

KEY MESSAGES FOR:

Democratic Governance

• Women’s participation in decision-making low: The number of women in key leadership and decision-making roles remains low as women face cultural and systemic obstacles to participating in political life. In 2022 the recent elections while there is very limited progress made regarding women’s political participation, they are only 2 Women Members of Parliament out of 114 Members of Parliament in PNG and 5 Women Members of Parliament out of 41 Members of Parliament in Bougainville.

• High rates of violence against women and girls: Gender-based violence remains a challenge for Papua New Guinea. At least 60 per cent of the country’s women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner at some point in their lives. Violence stemming from accusations of sorcery against older women appears to be on the rise.

• Access and control of resources: There are still persistent gender disparities in access to and control over productive resources in agriculture, energy, markets, forestry, fisheries and other sectors, yet women are the major contributors to the economy (on farms, at home and in the community). Women are systematically excluded from access to and control over resources, essential services and decision making despite a conducive legal and policy framework.

• Gender gap in education: there is clear gender gap in education from primary to secondary, however, gender inequalities is more pronounced in tertiary and technical and vocational education and training: university enrollments comprise 61% men and 39% women

Gender

• Women and cultural leadership roles: The gender inequalities experienced by women in PNG often stem from interpretations of traditional customs and culture that reinforce male-dominance and entitlement to positions of leadership, priority in wealth creation and distribution and resource management. These pre-existing cultural norms contribute to gender inequality and create an acceptance/tolerance for gender-based violence (GBV) in PNG society

• Women’s participation in decision-making low: The number of women in key leadership and decision-making roles remains low as women face cultural and systemic obstacles to participating in political life. In 2022 the recent elections while there is very limited progress made regarding women’s political participation, they are only 2 Women Members of Parliament out of 114 Members of Parliament in PNG and 5 Women Members of Parliament out of 41 Members of Parliament in Bougainville.

• High rates of violence against women and girls: Gender-based violence remains a challenge for Papua New Guinea. At least 60 per cent of the country’s women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner at some point in their lives. Violence stemming from accusations of sorcery against older women appears to be on the rise.

• Economic participation: The 2009–2010 Household Income and Expenditure Survey shows that a similar proportion of women (62%) and men (61%) are employed among the population aged 15 and older. Yet men are much more likely than women to hold a wage job in the formal sector (66% of men versus 38% of women), while women are three times more likely than men to work in the informal sector (46% of women versus 15% of men). This implies that women are less likely to have access to incomes and other employment opportunities for economic empowerment. 

• Gender gap in education: there is clear gender gap in education from primary to secondary, however, gender inequalities is more pronounced in tertiary and technical and vocational education and training: university enrollments comprise 61% men and 39% women

• Limited access to and understanding of information and influence on decision making processes limit the capacity of women to prepare and respond to adverse impacts of climate change. Women and girls are at risk for sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies due to sexual assault in times of emergency. Lack of health infrastructure can mean they can’t access adequate medical treatment or reproductive health options which impacts negatively on women’s reproductive health especially lack of access to family planning leads to unplanned or unwanted pregnancies during such disasters.

Peacebuilding and Resilience

• Civil conflicts: The country’s history is marked by political and civil conflicts. The Highlands region has suffered from inter-clan rivalries and armed conflict which has impacted negatively on the population especially for women and girls who bore the brunt of civil unrest that often leads to very high cases of GBV, hunger and poverty among others.

• Limited access to and understanding of information and influence on decision making processes limit the capacity of women to prepare and respond to adverse impacts of climate change. Women and girls are at risk for sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies due to sexual assault in times of emergency. Lack of health infrastructure can mean they can’t access adequate medical treatment or reproductive health options which impacts negatively on women’s reproductive health especially lack of access to family planning leads to unplanned or unwanted pregnancies during such disasters.

Climate Action

• Women and cultural leadership roles: The gender inequalities experienced by women in PNG often stem from interpretations of traditional customs and culture that reinforce male-dominance and entitlement to positions of leadership, priority in wealth creation and distribution and resource management. These pre-existing cultural norms contribute to gender inequality and create an acceptance/tolerance for gender-based violence (GBV) in PNG society

• Access and control of resources: There are still persistent gender disparities in access to and control over productive resources in agriculture, energy, markets, forestry, fisheries and other sectors, yet women are the major contributors to the economy (on farms, at home and in the community). Women are systematically excluded from access to and control over resources, essential services and decision making despite a conducive legal and policy framework.

• Infrastructure services: Poor transport infrastructure and services is one of the factors contributing to limited accessibility to education, health services, and market opportunities and energy access. This has impact on access to services especially for women and girls and other vulnerable groups leading to poor health, education, livelihood outcomes. Yet access to energy would be used to unlock women’s economic opportunities and at the same time saving time on unpaid care work, they would use energy for cooking and washing clothes that would relieve time of unpaid care work for paid work to increase women’s access to economic opportunities.

• Gender and Climate Change: Traditionally in Papua New Guinea, women and men have collaborated successfully as custodians of the environment. Climate change impacts are changing the traditional way of life and the impacts are very clear on affecting the environment, livelihoods, economy, health and gender relations in the communities. climate change impacts everyone, but there are differentiated impacts based on gender, age, ethnicity, and other socio-economic factors. The majority of women and girls walk further distances to access productive resources including clean water and have limited access and ownership to land compared with men which continues to exacerbate social and economic inequality. 

• Limited access to and understanding of information and influence on decision making processes limit the capacity of women to prepare and respond to adverse impacts of climate change. Women and girls are at risk for sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies due to sexual assault in times of emergency. Lack of health infrastructure can mean they can’t access adequate medical treatment or reproductive health options which impacts negatively on women’s reproductive health especially lack of access to family planning leads to unplanned or unwanted pregnancies during such disasters.

• Gender, Renewable Energy and energy efficiency: In PNG, the proportion of the population with access to electricity in 2017 was at 54.4% (ADB, 2020) yet energy plays an essential role in both women’s and men’s lives, therefore, achieving gender equality, social inclusion, and poverty alleviation in the area of renewable energy can be linked with human rights and social, environmental and economic development. In many countries including PNG, Women and girls take on the primary responsibility to ensure energy needs are met especially at household level and given their multiple roles and duties, they lack time to participate in other opportunities that could potentially help to enhance their knowledge, skills, income, and self-esteem.

Environment and Biodiversity

• Women and cultural leadership roles: The gender inequalities experienced by women in PNG often stem from interpretations of traditional customs and culture that reinforce male-dominance and entitlement to positions of leadership, priority in wealth creation and distribution and resource management. These pre-existing cultural norms contribute to gender inequality and create an acceptance/tolerance for gender-based violence (GBV) in PNG society

• Women’s access to Land and Resources: There is a strong gender dimension in how people and communities in Protected Areas access land and natural resources, engage in environmental management, and encounter vulnerability to environment challenges. In relation to national biodiversity and sustainable resource governance, adopting a gender perspective involves understanding and itegrating the relations and differences between men and women into conservation planning and protected area projects. There is a strong gender dimension in how people and communities in Protected Areas access land and natural resources, engage in environmental management, and encounter vulnerability to environmental challenges. In relation to national biodiversity and sustainable natural resource governance, adopting a gender perspective involves understanding and integrating the relations and differences between men and women into conservation planning and protected area projects.

• Access and control of resources: There are still persistent gender disparities in access to and control over productive resources in agriculture, energy, markets, forestry, fisheries and other sectors, yet women are the major contributors to the economy (on farms, at home and in the community). Women are systematically excluded from access to and control over resources, essential services and decision making despite a conducive legal and policy framework.

The UNDP’s Gender programme covers three major areas: 1) Spotlight; 2) Women Make the Change, and 3) Support to addressing SARV and 4) Strongpela Meri, Strongpela Nesen.

These programmes look at addressing inequalities in women’s health, education, political participation, and economic status, Violence against women and girls remains a key development challenge in Papua New Guinea and has been prioritized in the country’s development agenda as a cross-cutting issue that affects the overall development of the country.

The Government of Papua New Guinea has agreed to a range of national and international commitments to support women’s equal participation in public life and within political processes. These commitments are included within the PNG Constitution, Vision 2050, the UNDP’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Policy, Goal 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Convention Against All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

Resources:

• 2021 Papua New Guinea Prevention of Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment (PSEAH) Resource Guide

• UNDP Papua New Guinea Gender Equality Strategy 2023 - 2025

Projects

• Spotlight
• Women Make the Change