EMERGING WOMEN LEADERS IN THE PACIFIC

Feminising the future Ceridwen Spark

State, Society and Governance in MelanesiaANU

LEADERSHIP TRAJECTORIES

• 1960s and 70s, men groomed for public service

• 2014 – idea that there is a dearth of leaders underpins programs designed to support leadership development

RESEARCH AMONG EMERGING WOMEN LEADERS

• Research conducted in PNG (Port Moresby), Solomon Islands (Honiara) and Vanuatu (Port Vila)

• Two case studies: Ella and Jacqui

Ella

• 22 years old• Overseas experiences as a child• Tertiary educated (USP)• Well-connected internationally and locally• Started a tourist resort on her island• Miss Solomon Islands Beauty Pageant (runner-up)• Attended CHOGM meeting with Prime Minister

2013• Member of Young Women’s Parliamentary Group

Ella …

Ella (Honiara, March 2014)

What women should do is … go back to the community and give back what you can. Go back to the village and start from there like what I did. I went back right down to the village and I started something from there and it sort of built me up to where I am. I did a lot of things in the village and people are saying to me in the community “oh you should run for election and provincial” and I said no. I enjoy what I do now cause I help them a lot.

Jacqui

• 25 years old• Grew up in Bougainville/Port Moresby• Tertiary-educated (UPNG)• Global Change Network (travel/training)• Started Rugby League Against Violence (RLAV)• Ran her own school• Active in church and community• Not a member of any women’s groups

Jacqui

Jacqui (Port Moresby, December, 2013)

• [A feminist] is ‘somebody who is concerned about the rights of others and somebody who is willing to do something to address the problem that’s there’.

QUESTIONS

• Do these young women ‘fit the bill’ in terms of what leadership programs have in mind?

• Can we count what they do as leadership?• Does it matter that they are not interested in

politics? • What are the best ways to support them?