Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing different behaviors, aspirations and needs equally, regardless of gender.
Ambae, also known as Aoba, Omba, Oba, or Opa and formerly Lepers’ Island, is an island in the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, located near 15°30′S167°30′E, approximately 310 kilometres north-northwest of Vanuatu's capital city, Port Vila. It is also Vanuatu's largest active volcano.
Oceania is, like other regions, quite diverse in its laws regarding homosexuality. This ranges from significant rights granted to the LGBT community in New Zealand, Australia, Guam, Hawaii, Easter Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Wallis and Futuna, New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Pitcairn Islands to remaining criminal penalties for homosexual activity in 6 countries and one territory. Although acceptance is growing across the Pacific, violence and social stigma remain issues for LGBTI communities. This also leads to problems with healthcare, including access to HIV treatment in countries such as Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands where homosexuality is criminalised.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in Vanuatu may face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Same-sex sexual activity is legal, but households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for the same legal protections available to opposite-sex married couples.
The majority of the countries of the Commonwealth of Nations, formerly known as the British Commonwealth, still criminalise sexual acts between consenting adults of the same sex and other forms of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression. Homosexual activity remains a criminal offence in 32 of the 56 sovereign states of the Commonwealth; and legal in only 24.
Helena Dalli is a Maltese politician serving as European Commissioner for Equality since 1 December 2019. She is a member of the Labour Party.
Women in Vanuatu are women who live in or are from Vanuatu. This includes their education, healthcare, political, and economic information.
ʻOfa Guttenbeil-Likiliki is a filmmaker and women's rights activist in Tonga and the Pacific. Guttenbeil-Likiliki has urged equality in women's economic and educational empowerment, in their political involvement and representation, in land reform, protection from violence, and has advocated for the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women for over a decade. On 9 March 2015, her advocacy came to fruition when the Tongan government agreed that it was prepared to ratify the convention. Guttenbeil-Likiliki was twice nominated for the U.S. Secretary of State International Women of Courage Award (2012,2013) recognising her work in advocating for women and children's rights in Tonga.
Margaret Anne Jolly, born in Sydney, Australia is an historical anthropologist recognized as a world expert on gender in Oceania. She is professor in the College of Asia and the Pacific and Convenor of the Gender Institute at the Australian National University in Canberra. Jolly is also a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.
Gabrissa Shirani Hartman is a Nauruan politician. She was a member of the Parliament of Nauru from 2017 to 2019, representing the Ubenide constituency. She is the third woman to be elected to the Parliament of Nauru.
This article provides an overview of marital rape laws by country.
Joanna Hayter is an Australian gender equality advocate and humanitarian aid worker.
Vanuatu Women's Centre (VWC) is a women's rights organisation in Vanuatu, which provides services and support for women who are survivors of domestic violence.
Emma Ritch was a Scottish women's rights campaigner who was the executive director of Engender, a feminist policy organisation working on women’s social, economic, and political equality in Scotland. She had been working there for 13 years when she died on 9 July 2021.
Nadia Kanegai is a social entrepreneur, politician and historian from Vanuatu. She made the first study of women's traditional tattooing on Ambae. She has stood as a candidate in three elections in Vanuatu and was a prominent community activist during the 2017 and 2018 eruptions of Manaro Voui.
Shireen Rexina Lateef was a Fijian women's rights activist, known for her work on gender equality at the Asian Development Bank.
Jane Aeberhard-Hodges is a lawyer and gender equality consultant. She served as the Director of the International Labour Organization's Gender Equality Bureau. Jane serves as an advisor to Every Woman Coalition. She is specialized in public international law, international and comparative labour law, and gender equality and human rights law.
Omowumi Ogunrotimi is a Nigerian multidisciplinary legal practitioner, founder and executive director of Gender Mobile Initiative. She has worked in over 50 rural communities advocating for safe spaces for vulnerable populations, particularly girls and women.
Ros Sopheap is a Cambodian women's rights activist. She is the founder and former executive director of Gender and Development Cambodia (GADC), a non-governmental organisation involved in preventing domestic violence against women and promoting women in leadership roles. During her 20-year career with GADC, she advocated on behalf of women in Cambodia and was central to the Cambodian women's rights movement. Sopheap also served as the president of the Committee to Promote Women in Politics.
