In the Solomon Islands, there has been a long epidemic of inequality. For decades, two of the most predominant forms of inequality in the Solomon Islands are the issues of rape and other forms of violence against, whether with or without a sexual partner, and the economic unfairness against women.
According to an article from the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, commonly known as UN Women, “about 90% of women who reported violence experienced it from an intimate partner, while 64% of ever-partnered women aged 15-49 reported physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner.” Along with that, there are “around 10% of women who had ever been pregnant reported physical violence during a pregnancy.” In the five year period from 1998 to 2003, a civil conflict was prevalent which led to an immense amount of violence and abuse which created a snowball effect that led to increased aggression towards against women and children from residents in logging camps.
In the workforce in the Solomon Islands, women are on the short end of the stick in all measures, mainly due to the belief of traditional gender roles. According to an article from UN Women, “about 60.4% of the Solomon Islands’ female population is in employment, compared to 72.2% of men, with over three-quarters of these women participating in subsistence work (76.2%) compared to 58.1% of men.” When women try to become educated to fix this problem, the schools favor the men more, which results in women not getting proper education to play major roles in society.
These are just two of the inequalities that are present in the Solomon Islands as of today. Though there are people attempting to put an end to the disrespect against women with movements and advocating for women’s rights, the conflicts and inequalities continue every day.
Solomon Islands,UN Women, https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/countries/fiji/co/solomon-islands