This brief summarizes the key gender equality issues and key commitments in Vanuatu. Thematic areas covered in the brief include Women’s Human Rights, Women’s Representation and Leadership, Women’s Economic Empowerment, Education, Health/Sexual and Reproductive Health, Ending Violence against Women and Girls, and Gender and Protection in Humanitarian Action.

The Pacific region has some of the highest rates of violence against women recorded in the world – twice the global average with an estimated two in every three Pacific women impacted by gender-based violence.

Gender equality lies at the core of human rights and is the bedrock from which sustainable development can be achieved. Women and girls represent 50 per cent of the world’s population, yet are often excluded from the political arena, and shut out of decision-making that directly affects their lives. Increasing women’s political participation and leadership are vital mechanisms that support women to realize their human rights. Increasing women’s participation...

Historically, gender norms, behaviours and social relations have played a big part in disadvantaging women economically. Institutions, systems and structures often restrict women’s economic opportunities, while gender roles and status can limit women’s voices and choices when it comes to household and community decisions. Participating in economic activities allows women to effect positive changes in their own lives, and communities, contributing to positive effects for the whole...

A snapshot of UN Women’s Markets for Change project in Vanuatu delivered by the Fiji Multi-Country Office. Funded largely by the Australian Government, the project works with three major markets in Vanuatu, as well as five ring road markets in Shefa Province. The project also works in 12 other sites in Fiji and Vanuatu, to help ensure they are safe, inclusive and non-discriminatory. Markets are an essential source of income for many Vanuatu households and women make up the majority of...

A snapshot of UN Women’s Markets for Change project delivered by the Fiji Multi-Country Office. Funded largely by the Australian Government, the project works with 20 market sites across Fiji Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to help ensure they are safe, inclusive and non-discriminatory. Markets are an essential source of income for many Pacific households and women make up the majority of market vendors; despite this women are not usually involved in the decision-making processes that shape...

Increasing women’s participation in leadership and decision-making is not only critical for achieving gender equality, it is also essential for general economic and social development. Studies have found that longer exposure to women’s political representation increases women’s overall labour force participation, the share of public employment opportunities allocated to women and women’s increased access to public goods such as roads and health services. The Pacific...

A snapshot of UN Women’s Ending Violence against Women and Girls programme delivered by the Fiji Multi-Country Office. Covering 14 Pacific countries and territories, the programme supports Pacific-led activities to improve the policy environment on ending violence against women and girls as well as to meet the immediate needs, at a community level, of women who are experiencing violence. It supports Pacific organisations in delivering services that meet survivors’ needs, as well as...

A snapshot of UN Women’s Increasing Community Resilience through the Advancement of Women to Address Climate Change and Natural Hazards (IREACH) programme delivered by the Fiji Multi-Country Office. Covering 14 Pacific countries and territories, the programme is designed to ensure that Pacific women become full, equal partners in, and beneficiaries of, all disaster risk reduction (DRR), climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts, as well as overall sustainable development.

Violence against girls is also a serious problem in the Pacific. In Vanuatu and Solomon Islands more than 30 per cent of women reported they had been sexually abused before their 15th birthday. In Kiribati and Fiji the number was 20 per cent. Gender-based violence brings with it a raft of consequences for the individuals involved, their families and communities, as well as at regional and national levels. It has a substantial economic impact through increased healthcare, social services, and policing costs....