Women are underfunded in the Pacific Islands

Australia leads the pack of international partners funding women’s development in the Pacific, but financing to address gender inequality in the region still falls below global averages, a new Lowy Institute Data Snapshot reveals.

The Data Snapshot, entitled Women are underfunded in the Pacific Islands by Dr Jessica Collins, uses the Lowy Institute’s Pacific Aid Map to examine trends and development implications in Pacific gender equality financing between 2008 and 2021.

The report shows, until 2021, about three per cent of all aid to the region had gender equality as a principal aim, below the global average of four per cent.

Australia is an outlier donor, having spent more than US$6.4 billion on women’s investments between 2008 and 2021 — far more than all other development partners.

In contrast, China, a non-traditional development partner, financed just US$9 million in gender equality investments, a negligible fraction of its US$3.1 billion in aid to the region.

Dr Jessica Collins said: “Right across the Pacific Islands region, women are on the back foot. Pacific Island countries have the lowest level of female political representation in the world, there are significantly fewer women in the workforce than men, and about two in every three women and girls experience domestic violence.”

“Large established international donors, including Australia, can make meaningful contributions to gender equality in the region by backing more projects that explicitly target women’s development.

“China, seeking to be preferred partner in the Pacific, must also invest more into development priorities beyond its historical focus on infrastructure and hard security.

“More accurate reporting by donors on disbursements for gender equality-specific projects is also essential to fill the substantial gaps in our understanding of progress on the issue. Inconsistent methodologies and performance targets can inflate results and skew real trends.”

Lowy Institute Director of Research Hervé Lemahieu said: “Dr Jessica Collins has delivered the most comprehensive review to date of gender equality financing across the Pacific Islands. But she has also uncovered a glaring lack of data among donors. While traditional donors are not reporting all their data on gender equality financing, non-traditional donors typically report none. Accurate, detailed and consistent donor reporting is a critical step to unlocking further progress on gender equality in the region."

KEY FINDINGS

• Pacific Islands women are not receiving enough development funding. Until 2021, only about 3% of all aid had gender equality as its “principal” target, below the global average of 4%, and only a quarter of all aid had gender equality as a “significant” focus, 13% below the global average.
   
• Australia’s financing for Pacific women’s development overshadows that of all other development partners. Australia’s total contribution is slightly below the global average of financing for women’s development, although it is expected to rise with the implementation of new targets. Aid to the sector from China is negligible.
   
• More than a third of aid spent in Pacific Island countries that was reported to the OECD had no assessment of investment into gender equality projects, affecting the usefulness of the data for policymakers.

The Data Snapshot is available to read and download at the Lowy Institute website.

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