Evaluating the impact of violence against women and girls in the Pacific

Evaluating the impact of violence against women and girls in the Pacific

By Leisa Gibson

The Federal Government’s recent budget announcements shone a spotlight on the issues of women’s safety and economic equality. We know that violence perpetrated by men towards women who are their partners is the most common form of violence against women. Recent global estimates suggest that 26% of partnered women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime.

In the Pacific, rates of violence against women and girls are much higher than the global average. National research shows rate of lifetime experience is high in Tonga (79 per cent), Samoa (76 per cent), Kiribati (73 per cent), Fiji (72 per cent), Vanuatu (72 per cent) and Solomon Islands (64 per cent) (WHO).

Gendered violence has devastating impacts on women and girls, their families, communities, and workplaces. This violence is rooted in negative gender norms, damaging to both men and women, and perpetuates gender inequality in the public and private sphere.?

Alongside existing commitments from Pacific governments, the Australian Government has reaffirmed its commitment to ending gender-based violence domestically and across the Indo-Pacific region. ?For those commitments to improve the safety of women and girls, we know we need interventions at individual, community, and institutional levels. And we know we need to continue to build evidence to understand current levels of impact, and then measure and evaluate success.

One way of collecting and measuring evidence on violence against women and girls is by examining the economic costs of violence. A recent study by Abt, commissioned by UN Women under the Spotlight Initiative Pacific Regional Programme, provided data for what the costs of gender-based violence across Fiji, the Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI) and the Solomon Islands look like and estimated the direct cost to individuals for accessing services. This study can be used to both influence national budgetary processes, and act as a baseline for measuring the impact of programming preventing and responding to violence against women. The study reports will be available in early

However, the study likely underestimates of the true economic burden of violence. During the study, an issue the authors faced was the availability of consistent, accurate data on the many social and economic indicators we looked to review.?Data to estimate the costs of violence is obtained from many different sources and the absence of country specific data to generate robust estimates on the costs of violence against women is frequently highlighted. This lack of data hampers attempts to estimate the full costs of violence against women and therefore, many cost estimates underestimate the true burden of violence. To generate more robust estimates, data needs to be securely and confidentially recorded and made available for services providers, the broader community, and government where appropriate.

National violence prevalence surveys in the three countries provide good data sets, however without a consistent reporting framework and measurable policy objectives across relevant sectors like health and justice, there are limitations to how they can be used. They are likely to underestimate the extent to which women access formal support services, and hospital, employment and education data sets do not collect information on the impact of gender-based violence.

As we look to achieve our collective ambitions to end violence against women and girls, this study argues for the adaption of existing VAW data tools in the Pacific to consolidate and implement a VAW data reporting framework and associated data collection protocols. Such a framework will help countries systematically organise data about the experiences and costs of violence based on consistent monitoring and reporting of family, domestic and sexual violence by governments and organisations. This will generate a much-needed evidence base that is essential for better prevention methods and better-informed policy development and implementation as well as appropriate resourcing.?

Leadership from Pacific governments and civil society such as that shown by the Fiji Women Crisis Centre, Solomon Islands SAFENET and Women United Together Marshall Islands, Ministry of Health and others is having enormous impact, however until data systems and their link to policy in the GBV space are strengthened, there is a missing step on the path to ending violence against women and girls in the Pacific..

*This blog is informed by a Costing Study commissioned by UNWomen. @unwomenpacific?