The Pacific’s Forgotten Paradox
Updated: 14 hours ago
By Angelina Lanna Chams
This article is published as a part of the collaboration between The Pacific Post and Todai Shimbun.
Credit: Streluk
Gender inequality is commonly understood as an inevitable consequence of patriarchal social structures. Taking this assumption at face value, it should be expected that more equality is observed in societies where women hold authority. Yet, the Pacific region complicates this understanding. Known for its political and gender inequality, the region currently holds the lowest share of parliamentary seats globally with women holding less than eight percent of seats.
Anthropological studies, though, suggest that this hasn’t always been the case. In Pacific societies centred on matrilineality (tracing kinship and inheritance through the female lineage) and matrilocality (married couples living in close proximity to the wife’s family), women were awarded titles for their importance and influence within communities. Their influence would further extend to their sole authority over land. The preliminary understanding now becomes at odds with the Pacific: how does a matrilineal society, where women hold power and influence, turn into one of the world’s most unequal regions?
Part of this answer lies in how matrilineality is understood. Matrilineal societies were not matriarchal. In that regard, neither were they inherently patriarchal with inheritance being passed onto men. Women in the Pacific held power — despite not living in a patriarchy — through matrilineality and matrilocality. It should thus be understood that matrilineality can provide the preconditions to support the growth of power held by women in Oceanic societies, but it does not guarantee this.
In the case of some Proto Oceanic societies, matrilineality was synonymous with women holding leadership positions. During the late second millennium BCE, men were seafarers—travelling long distances away to trade and discover new islands. Their extended absences from their families provided the opportunity for women to take on key roles of authority on land. On Vanatinai Island, Papua New Guinea, this would be the giagia. A gender-neutral title, it is awarded to individuals recognised for their wisdom and generosity. Their influence is seen through the redistribution of ceremonial valuables and the hosting of feasts for the community.
Beyond the holding of titles, there’s a traditional linkage between women and the land. Where men were tasked with seafaring, women became in charge of horticultural and arboricultural labour. This led to women being seen as better versed in matters surrounding the land. The two domains of land and sea thus became designated gender roles with a consequential level of authority.
Matrilocality was sustained through long-distance seafaring activities — creating the normality for matrilineality: tracing descent through women who were permanently stationed on land. As women remained within their community on land, it became more practical for them to relocate closer to their parents in order to have the support needed during their husband’s absence. Matrilocality would thus lead to their children becoming more closely connected to the mother’s kin group, reinforcing the practice of tracing descent through the maternal line. Simultaneously, seafaring was sustained by matrilocality. Women were entrusted with subsistence activities and taking care of their families by relocating nearby their parents. This allowed men to travel several hundred kilometres without concern for their family’s well-being.
Yet, this interdependency would pose a challenge: how could jobs change without affecting familial arrangements? This hurdle appeared during the colonial administration where colonial powers transformed the Pacific into a cash crop economy. Sustainability, once at the heart of the Pacific’s arboriculture, was pushed to the side in favour of extraction.
The colonial administration would further reimagine gender roles in the Pacific. By imposing Western ideals across schools, girls were taught to be subordinate and passive. Meanwhile, boys were being prepared to become labourers and patriarchs of their future households — enabling the semblance of a patriarchy as we understand it today to emerge. The traditional practices of matrilineality and matrilocality would thus begin to fade as the former domains of women could no longer support female economic power.
Power would further shift away from women as politics became a restricted domain. Through colonial changes, it became accessible only to formally educated young men with a cosmopolitan background. The giagia, who once held a significant influence over their kin and neighbours, were reduced to little to no influence over contemporary politics. Elise Huffer, doctorate in Political Science, notably stated that “Land is treasured in the Pacific, but it is often forgotten how precious it is to women,” emphasising how using the present day’s concept of power is insufficient in understanding the authority of Pacific women 4000 years ago.
But, colonialism alone cannot explain the contemporary realities for women. Whilst women in the Pacific may hold the lowest share of parliamentary seats globally, different parts of the region show varying political representation. In overseas French territories like French Polynesia and New Caledonia, the enactment of the French parity law required political parties to nominate an equal number of female and male candidates. This has enabled French Polynesia to achieve parity in the assembly with women holding 28 of 57 seats. However, in New Caledonia, achieving parity remains difficult as there remains a strong belief that there is an insufficient number of qualified women to stand in parliament.
Beyond these individual cases, the question of female representation in politics remains a wider concern across the region. This is highlighted through Dame Meg Taylor’s, the former Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum, view on culture as a simultaneous source of pride and an impediment for gender equality. The region’s customs and traditions are the foundation of Pacific society. Yet, entrenched beliefs about how men are more suitable to be in positions of political leadership is what shapes its society today.
The Pacific’s paradox isn’t the mere existence of gender inequality. Rather, it is how societies which once afforded women influence and power, are now the ones struggling most to achieve gender equality. Inequality in the Pacific wasn’t inherited from past generations. It was crafted through various historical transformations that became woven into what is today seen as its culture.
Check out the other articles published as a part of our collaboration with Todai Shimbin on their website:
Commentary on "Cells at Work!" by Akane Shimizu
References
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