Reflections from the South Pacific - Navigating Intersectionality and Customary Contexts to Progress Gender Equality and Gender Equity

Abstract

Progressing gender equality objectives in development and research for development activities can be an uneven process, and this is certainly the case in the South Pacific. In this chapter, we deconstruct the six case studies featured in this book to discuss the common stumbling points, obstructions and pathways to gender equality and equity observed across the case study projects, but additionally through our collective experiences of living and/or working extensively in the South Pacific. This chapter serves to synthesise these findings. The authors propose that situating gender equality into a broader framing of social equality, by drawing on the concept of intersectionality, provides a necessary context for the design and implementation of development projects - particularly where project participants are from communities with strong customary orientation. We additionally outline the fluid nature of changing gender roles and stereotypes as project teams and project participants simultaneously negotiate the tension created by modernity and tradition.