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President Heine said the region “must harness the wisdom of Pacific women” to tackle the climate crisis.
photo: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
go through Nathan Rick*Majuro
*This is the fourth episode of a five-part web series focusing on the 15th Pacific Women’s Triennial Conference taking place this week in the Marshall Islands.
Climate justice and gender equality cannot be achieved separately, a Pacific Women’s Conference heard this week.
Marshall Islands President Dr Hilda Heine said the climate crisis facing the region and the world will make gender equality more difficult to achieve.
“We know, for example, that you cannot have gender equality without climate justice and vice versa,” Heine told delegates at the 15th Pacific Women’s Triennial Conference, held in the North Pacific for the first time in 40 years.
“We have the same aspirations,” Heine said.
“We are meeting in Majuro because one of our aspirations is to empower women and girls in the Pacific with a variety of rights and ultimately achieve gender equality in our region.”
Heine said achieving gender equality requires harnessing the abilities and talents of every Pacific woman.
“We must harness the rich intellect of Pacific women, their diverse cultures and traditions, to chart our way forward, harnessing the diversity and creativity of our region to find solutions that incorporate Pacific philosophies and worldviews,” she said.
“We know that the climate crisis will make it harder to achieve gender equality – and we cannot solve the climate crisis without gender equality.”
Heine said women are often the group most quickly and severely affected by climate change.
“They are the first responders to their families and are responsible for making sure their families are cared for and healthy,” she said.
“They are responsible for securing water supplies when climate change brings droughts, and they are the primary caregivers when children or the elderly are affected by extreme heat.
“In the Marshall Islands, women often participate in the informal economy by producing handicrafts, and we know that the materials used in these crafts are at risk as sea levels rise and salt water inundates our arable land.
“Women are also critical to solving the climate crisis.”
Heine said Pacific Island women were providing the strongest voices for climate goals at the international level, and at home they were tending solar panels, providing clean energy to their communities.
She called them central to securing climate justice.
Women’s health, gender-based violence and climate justice are major challenges that Pacific women continue to face.
photo: RNZI/Jiff Johnson
“Returns are far from stable”
This week, Majuro Atoll hosted two regional conferences – the Eighth Women Ministers’ Meeting and the Third Pacific Islands Forum Women Leaders’ Meeting.
Political commentators said it showed that regional leaders recognised the importance of gender equality and the meeting provided an opportunity to collectively discuss how to advance commitment to the issue at national, regional and international levels.
Heine acknowledged that the Pacific region has made significant progress in many areas of women’s rights in recent decades.
“But these advances are far from sustainable and much work remains to be done,” she warned.
Women’s health, gender-based violence and climate justice were themes discussed during the conference, and highlighted some of the key challenges Pacific women continue to face.
All of these issues exacerbate the impact of inequalities faced by women and girls due to existing social norms and structures, Heine said.
She said the triennial conference and the Pacific Women Ministers’ Meeting were important platforms for addressing these and other barriers to gender equality.
*Nathan Rick is a veteran Pacific journalist. He is currently in Majuro, Marshall Islands, covering the 15th Pacific Women’s Triennial Conference.
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