Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

Women in the Pacific face numerous and entrenched challenges and so change will always be incremental. More than 60 per cent of women surveyed had experienced physical or sexual violence. Pacific women make up 6.7 per cent of parliamentarians—the lowest rate in the world—compared to a global average of 21 per cent.

Across the Pacific, men outnumber women in paid employment outside the agriculture sector by approximately two to one and women occupy only a third of the formal sector jobs. Of course, the causes of gender inequality are complex and they are interconnected. Our overseas development assistance programs have been working at the individual, at the family, at the community and at the national levels. We partner with local organisations and with government, but change in one area alone will not be sufficient. We need to access women's economic security to ensure that they do have a voice.