One World, Two Places, One Basic Right
An Anglican Response to Stopping Violence Against Women
Kate Higgins is Anglicord’s Pacific Program Manager, based in Solomon Islands, a small nation comprised of over 900 islands in the Pacific Ocean, where there are some of the highest rates of violence against women in the world.
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| Every woman in every country has the right to be safe from violence and abuse, says Kate Higgins, and Anglican action can help provide this. |
I am surprised and sometimes bewildered at how different life seems in Solomon Islands – the children who have never seen a white person before crying because they think they’ve seen a ghost; having everyone say good morning or hello to me; and the daily “sweat up the hill” – the walk to work in 100% humidity, all the time thinking that I’ll never grumble about not getting a seat on the tram ever again. While close to Australia, it can feel like I’m on the other side of the world.
But while comparisons are inevitable in the throes of culture shock, essentially we are all the same: all people require food and shelter, we all enjoy a joke, we all want to love and be loved, and we all require safety from violence.
Every woman in every country has the right to be safe from violence and abuse. In Australia, however, around one woman a week is killed by a partner or ex-partner. Violence against women and children costs the economy $13.6 billion a year one in three women have experienced violence from a partner or ex-partner. In Solomon Islands, it is almost two in three, and a recent study has found 64% of women aged between 15 and 49 have been physically and/or sexually abused. Women in Solomon Islands are experiencing some of the highest rates of violence in the world.
Last month, the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne voted unanimously to adopt a policy to prevent violence against women. Anglicord has always been an advocate of women’s rights, so it made sense for us to address the situation at home too, and personally, I was excited to be taking part in the formation of this policy under the initiative of Revd Scott Holmes, and with other members of the Social Responsibility Committee. However, I couldn’t have known the coincidence that lay ahead.
A few weeks into work in Solomon Islands I found myself sitting with the General Secretary of The Anglican Church of Melanesia, George Kiriau. I would have never expected such a busy man to start talking of his passion for ending violence against women. He told me “violence against our mothers and sisters is not restricted to rich or poor, leaders or followers, rural or urban, to particular language or kastoms [cultural practices of different ethnic groups of tribes]. Violence affects us right throughout our society in Solomons Islands, including our churches.”
I can see the problem for myself, in Honiara and out in the villages, where it is exacerbated by high unemployment, drug and alcohol abuse and urban migration, combined with the low status of women. In the Mothers Union office, not a day goes by when a woman does not come to seek help from the MU volunteers because they have experienced violence in their homes. The Anglican Sisters of the Church run the only women’s refuge in the country which is often at capacity and can usually only help women from Honiara and surrounds – the Sisters work tirelessly to provide support to women who are severely traumatised.
George invited me to join the church leaders to brainstorm why this situation was occurring, and at such unacceptable levels and what could be done to prevent it. The head of the Justice, Peace and Reconciliation department Fr Mark Graham pointed out that “violence is a product of conflict, and conflict has root causes... We need to look at the root causes of conflict and work towards stopping this conflict from turning into violence.” The head of the Church’s programs Fr Patteson Worek, from Vanuatu, argued that the Church had a role in addressing the culture dynamics, “especially this Melanesian ‘myth’ about family violence being ‘private business’ between a husband and wife”. We then drew a “violence” tree which outlined all the root causes of violence and the fruits of their result.
And after this the same conclusion was reached as in Australia: the need for prevention. The Anglican Church in Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia in their November Synod passed a resolution adopting a statement condemning Family Violence and the establishment of a committee which will over the next three years look at how the Church can address this issue and prevent this violence from happening in the first place.
So we have two resolutions passed in two Synods, both far apart in culture but together in the Anglican Communion, both aiming to prevent violence against women, both recognising that for the Church to remain a relevant part of our society, it must practice what it preaches in terms of compassion, peace and justice. It needs to work towards a better future where women are not subjected to violence and abuse.
George says he believes “God is moving through organisations both internationally and locally to recognise the problem of family violence. God is moving through these organisations to stand against violence in the family.” And he is excited by it. I hope that he is right.
To help prevent violence against women in the Pacific, support Anglicord’s Christmas Lights appeal.
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