Papua New Guinea

Small Arms, Violence and Gender in Papua New Guinea: Towards a Research Agenda

Citation:

Capie, David. 2011. "Small Arms, Violence and Gender in Papua New Guinea: Towards a Research Agenda." Asia Pacific Viewpoint 52 (1): 42-55.

Author: David Capie

Abstract:

Among Pacific states, Papua New Guinea (PNG) has attracted the most attention from researchers looking at problems caused by small arms and light weapons. There is now a substantive body of work cataloguing different aspects of the country's problems with firearms and gun violence. This research sits alongside a large scholarly literature on violence in PNG and the connection between violence, gender and masculine identities. There has, however, been strikingly little research bringing these literatures together and looking directly at the gendered dimensions of PNG's gun violence. This paper explores some connections between small arms, violence and gender in PNG. After providing a general overview of small arms issues in PNG, it examines the misuse of firearms in urban crime and inter-communal fighting in the Highlands, specifically noting the limited evidence that is available about the differently gendered consequences of gun violence. It identifies three potential areas for further research: exploring the relationship between changing notions of masculinity and demand for firearms; gender and PNG's growing private security industry; and fragile signs of change in the role of women in the PNG Defence Force.

 

Keywords: Gender, Papua New Guinea, small arms, violence

Topics: Gender, Masculinity/ies, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Private Military & Security, Violence, Weapons /Arms Regions: Oceania Countries: Papua New Guinea

Year: 2011

The Gender of the Gold: An Ethnographic and Historical Account of Women’s Involvement in Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Mount Kaindi, Papua New Guinea

Citation:

Moretti, Daniele. 2006. “The Gender of the Gold: An Ethnographic and Historical Account of Women’s Involvement in Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Mount Kaindi, Papua New Guinea.” Oceania 76 (2): 133–49. doi:10.2307/40332019.

Author: Daniele Moretti

Abstract:

The Kaindi area of Papua New Guinea is home to a large community of Anga small-scale miners. While they constitute nearly half of the local population, women do not participate in mining to the same extent as the men. Drawing on ethnographic data this paper shows that this is not just due to personal choice but also to a series of limiting factors that include pollution beliefs, land tenure practices, the unequal control of household resources, and the gendered division of labour. Far from being simply intrinsic to Anga culture, these impediments also relate to the gendered history of the colonial goldfields and to contemporary national law and company practice in the extractive sector. Similarly, they are neither unambiguous nor resistant to change. Indeed, since the Anga first entered the mines their women have engaged in resource extraction in ever increasing numbers, both independently and alongside male relatives and partners. Through an analysis of this historical trend, my paper will show that historically conscious ethnography can help specify not only the main obstacles women face in entering artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), but also the conditions that lead to their strengthening or weakening through time, thus identifying factors to be stimulated or countered in policies and strategies for equitable development within the sector.

Topics: Development, Economies, Environment, Extractive Industries, Gender, Women, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Land Tenure, Governance, Households, Livelihoods, Multi-National Corporations Regions: Oceania Countries: Papua New Guinea

Year: 2006

On Australia’s Doorstep: Gold, Rape, and Injustice

Citation:

Knuckey, Sarah. 2013. “On Australia’s Doorstep: Gold, Rape, and Injustice.” The Medical Journal of Australia 199 (3): 1.

Author: Sarah Knuckey

Annotation:

Summary:

"Many Australians, like others in Western countries that are home to the world’s largest mining companies, benefit economically from extractive industries. We want mine operations to be socially and environmentally responsible, and we expect our governments to fairly regulate corporate activity to prevent or mitigate harm.

But some communities in Papua New Guinea bear the brunt of poorly regulated extractives projects, carried out with insufficient attention to their social impacts. When things go wrong, harms can be compounded by justice and health care systems ill equipped to respond effectively. Australian health professionals have expertise in many of the problems facing those living near PNG mines, and could have much to offer, working in partnership with local communities."

(Knuckey, 2013, p. 1).

Topics: Economies, Extractive Industries, Governance, Health, Justice, Multi-National Corporations, Sexual Violence, Rape Regions: Oceania Countries: Australia, Papua New Guinea

Year: 2013

Gender & Mining: Strategies for Governing the Development of Women in Lihir, PNG

Citation:

Hemer, Susan R. 2014. “Gender & Mining: Strategies for Governing the Development of Women in Lihir, PNG.” Working Paper, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia.

Author: Susan R. Hemer

Abstract:

The negative impacts of mining on local communities, and particularly women in the Pacific, are well documented. It is acknowledged that mines are notoriously male dominated, and women struggle to be heard in negotiations between communities and mines, as well as to gain the benefits of mine related development. In recent years in attempts to address these issues, there have been calls to examine the interface between gender and mining more fully, and to mainstream gender in all aspects of mining. This paper takes its lead from recent research that aims to move beyond the ‘negative impacts on women’ of mining (Mahy 2011), to instead examine the strategies and resilience of women in mining locations (Rimoldi 2011). In the case of the Lihir Gold mine, there are two key women’s organisations that work for women’s development: the Petztorme Women’s Association which draws its membership from the Catholic and United Churches, and the Tutorme Association which developed from a Sewing Centre. These two organisations, however, have developed very different strategies to advance the position of women. Through an analysis of this case, the paper argues that gender mainstreaming has not been effectual at the local level in Lihir, and that instead women continue to gain their status from their role as guardians of the future through children, youth and health.

Topics: Development, Economies, Extractive Industries, Gender, Women, Gender Roles, Gender Mainstreaming, Gendered Power Relations, Livelihoods, Political Participation Regions: Oceania Countries: Papua New Guinea

Year: 2014

Development on Whose Terms?: CSR Discourse and Social Realities in Papua New Guinea’s Extractive Industries Sector

Citation:

Gilberthorpe, Emma, and Glenn Banks. 2012. “Development on Whose Terms?: CSR Discourse and Social Realities in Papua New Guinea’s Extractive Industries Sector.” Resources Policy 37 (2): 185–93. 

Authors: Emma Gilberthorpe, Glenn Banks

Abstract:

The emergence of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the extractive industries represents a bid to legitimize the sector after decades of environmental disasters and the trampling of indigenous rights. But whilst the rise in CSR has meant safer technologies and better stakeholder engagement, there is little evidence of any real socio-economic development at the grassroots. This paper examines the uneasy relationship existing between the strategic ‘business model’ of CSR and the brand of development it delivers. Using evidence form the two multinational extractive industries in Papua New Guinea, we show how weaknesses in CSR practice come from greater emphasis on meeting global ‘performance standards” than on the specificities of the social contexts in which strategies are implemented. These weaknesses, we argue, lead to ill-conceived and inappropriate development programmes that generate inequality, fragmentation and social and economic insecurity. We conclude that greater engagement with affected communities will facilitate the development of more mutually beneficial and appropriate CSR strategies.

Topics: Civil Society, Development, Economies, Extractive Industries, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Indigenous, Multi-National Corporations, Political Economies, Rights, Indigenous Rights Regions: Oceania Countries: Papua New Guinea

Year: 2012

Research and Rhetoric on Women in Papua New Guinea’s Village Courts

Citation:

Goddard, Michael. 2005. “Research and Rhetoric on Women in Papua New Guinea’s Village Courts.” Oceania 75 (3): 247-67.

Author: Michael Goddard

Abstract:

This paper addresses a recent and popular rhetoric in academic literature that women are discriminated against, often in the name of 'custom,' in the male-dominated village courts of Papua New Guinea. The rhetoric is interrogated with reference to academic research findings and reports since the early days of the legislatively introduced village court system, and to data from the author's own research in recent years. On the basis of these two sources, it is argued that the evidence does not support the rhetoric, and further that the latter does less than justice to grassroots women in Papua New Guinea by portraying them as relatively passive victims of village courts. On the contrary, fieldwork research findings indicate that women are confident and reasonably successful disputants and that village courts are a community-level resource which is becoming increasingly useful for grassroots women with limited avenues for seeking justice and recompense.

Topics: Gender, Women, Justice Regions: Oceania Countries: Papua New Guinea

Year: 2005

The Kup Women for Peace Approach to Peacebuilding: Taking the Lead in the Papua New Guinea National Elections

Citation:

Hinton, Rachael, Michelle Kopi, Angela Apa, Agnes Sil, Mary Kini, Jerry Kai, Yanny Guman, and Daniell Cowley. 2008. “The Kup Women for Peace Approach to Peacebuilding: Taking the Lead in the Papua New Guinea National Elections.” Gender & Development 16 (3): 523–33. doi:10.1080/13552070802465383.

Authors: Rachael Hinton, Michelle Kopi, Angela Apa, Agnes Sil, Mary Kini, Jerry Kai, Yanny Guman, Daniell Cowl

Abstract:

In seven short years, Kup Women for Peace, a community organisation in Papua New Guinea, has gone from tribal peacebuilding to ensuring a free, fair, and violence-free election in one small part of Simbu Province. The organisation's approach was multi-faceted and locally appropriate, enfranchising many women - and educating men - in the process. In a country where women are marginalised in decision-making structures, the implementation of UN Resolution 1325 could have a major impact on democratic processes and good governance. (Oxfam)

Topics: Democracy / Democratization, Gender, Women, Governance, Elections, Peacebuilding, UN Security Council Resolutions on WPS, UNSCR 1325, Violence Regions: Oceania Countries: Papua New Guinea

Year: 2008

Rape, Shame and Pride

Citation:

Braithwaite, John. 2006. “Rape, Shame and Pride.” Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology & Crime Prevention 7: 2–16. 

Author: John Braithwaite

Abstract:

A proposition of the theory of reintegrative shaming is that a reason some societies have lower rates of rape is that rape is unthinkable to most men in those societies. This presentation shows how war interrupts the unthinkableness of rape. Bougainville society seems to have had a low level of rape until its war of the 1980s and 1990s. A single rape was one of the important sparks that lit its civil war. It caused perhaps over 5% of the population to lose their lives and perhaps over a third to be displaced from their homes. As in most wars, rape became common in Bougainville. A theory of why war causes epidemics of rape helps criminologists understand rape better. It can also help international relations scholars to see that the bigger problem caused by armed conflict today may be crime rather than battle deaths. Rape in peace and in war is interpreted according to Eliza Ahmed's theory of shame management and pride management. Ahmed's work is seen as an important advance in evidence‐based criminological theory. A deficiency of reintegrative shaming theory is that it neglects pride as the flip side of shame as an emotion. Shame displacement may be important to the explanation of rape; yet narcissistic pride may be more important. In war we see more vividly the social dynamics of how shame displacement and narcissistic pride allow both rape and the onset of war itself. Bougainville helps us to ponder how historically sustained, deep and broad restorative justice processes may be part of what is needed to return a society to peace and to low levels of rape.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Justice, Peacebuilding, Sexual Violence, Rape Regions: Oceania Countries: Papua New Guinea

Year: 2006

Senso Daughters

"During World War II, 140,000 Japanese troops may have died in Papua New Guinea. Only 11,000 returned to Japan. Considered the "Forgotten War," neither the war nor its veterans received public recognition in Japan. But Senso Daughters (Daughters of War) investigates another unacknowledged tragedy of that campaign: the army's mistreatment of New Guinean women and "comfort girls," military prostitutes conscripted believing they would clean and cook.

Pages

© 2024 CONSORTIUM ON GENDER, SECURITY & HUMAN RIGHTSLEGAL STATEMENT All photographs used on this site, and any materials posted on it, are the property of their respective owners, and are used by permission. Photographs: The images used on the site may not be downloaded, used, or reproduced in any way without the permission of the owner of the image. Materials: Visitors to the site are welcome to peruse the materials posted for their own research or for educational purposes. These materials, whether the property of the Consortium or of another, may only be reproduced with the permission of the owner of the material. This website contains copyrighted materials. The Consortium believes that any use of copyrighted material on this site is both permissive and in accordance with the Fair Use doctrine of 17 U.S.C. § 107. If, however, you believe that your intellectual property rights have been violated, please contact the Consortium at info@genderandsecurity.org.

Subscribe to RSS - Papua New Guinea