Papua New Guinea
Women’s One Day of the Year
ONCE a year the women of Papua New Guinea are engulfed in a tsunami of
praise.
Suddenly they become the indispensible ingredient in the PNG family.
Their achievements are beyond compare.
Leaders try to outdo each other in
their fulsome praise of women. They fall over each other issuing inflated
promises and undertakings supposedly designed to boost the position of women in
the community.
The one day of the year is International Women’s Day when for
a fleeting 24 hours, millions of women throughout the world just might escape
the nightly bashings and forced sex that distinguishes their lives every other
day of the year.
There is a sizeable number of Papua New Guineans who are
simply fed-up with the annual political festival of lip service dedicated to PNG
women.
We heartily endorse Dame Carol Kidu’s plea that men must show their
support for women’s right to an equal role in PNG life.
Feminists may not
want to accept the obvious, but it remains obvious despite their reservations –
if men in PNG society support a cause and urge other men to accept that cause,
it will rapidly become an accepted component of modern life.
Nevertheless, it
is hard to void the obvious conclusion – women can be their own worst
enemies.
We’re not referring to the legendary in-fighting that has from time
to time distinguished organisations such as the National Council of Women. That
is an unfortunate negative and one that has occurred too often.
But it is
also a negative that has been seized upon by politicians and used as a weapon to
beat off women’s legitimate demands.
What we are referring to is the present
lack of a commanding women’s voice, a woman or group of women whose stature in
the country would ensure maximum exposure for the women of PNG.
Such a person
or group would provide an instant rallying point for women, and bring a welcome
measure of unity to women’s aspirations.
Women’s attempts to claim the gender
equality that is constitutionally theirs by right too often seem unco-ordinated,
too poorly publicised and scattered to have any pronounced effect on national
affairs.
This has a negative impact on women throughout PNG life.
Who are
the high profile achievers among women candidates who will nominate for the
coming elections?
Even well informed PNG observers of either sex would be
hard-pressed to name half a dozen intending women candidates – yet there will
almost certainly be more than 100 women standing for election.
And too many
men will take that fact as proof there are simply not enough smart, educated
women to stand for election.
Needless to say that is not the reason. Nearer
to the truth would be women’s invisibility in PNG society. The big achievers do
not tend to seek a high public profile.
Many of them have no public profile
at all, yet they may excel in many fields if compared directly with their male
counterparts.
The media also plays a role in this image of women.
Far too
often we find village women dressed in traditional bilas welcoming some visiting
male who is being hoisted shoulder high by male village leaders. The women are
the necessary background chorus to properly welcome the dignitary.
Will he
later be introduced to any of those men’s wives?
Of course not.
In any
event, they’ll be preparing the feast for 200 or 300 guests.
The men wouldn’t
have it any other way, and after all, it is age-old custom.
All the empty
echoing political promises, worse this International Women’s Day because of the
proximity of the elections, will come to absolutely nothing. That is one
certainty in an uncertain world.
For PNG women have yet to present a united
face to the world or to identify the four or five main goals that would
revolutionise their lives.
Until they can do those things, their
uncertainties about what they need will continue to distress their lives – and
give many PNG men the opportunity they most need. And that is to continue their
domestic power games in order to ensure that the male remains culturally,
economically and spiritually superior to the female.
May God help the women
of
PNG.