Cathryn Morriss

The involvement and experience of women in any new sphere of life can be the basis for changes in perspectives and the re-prioritization of values. Women’s contributions to the political processes of peace and post-conflict reconstruction in Bougainville acted as a catalyst to changes in perceptions regarding women as decision-makers. It challenged notions of gender equity and attitudes to inclusive political participation. Women's groups were instrumental in working for peace and reconciliation at local, national and international levels. Women created opportunities to stimulate dialogue, participated in peace talks and were part of the constitution building process. Despite their valuable and much recognized contributions women still found themselves greatly under-represented during the 2005 elections. This paper considers the political gains that occurred and their relationship to the engagement of women with political action in the post conflict era; however it will also un...

Ivana Milojevic 2013, Breathing Violence in Peace Out: University of Queensland Press ISBN- 13:9780702249693; ISBN-10:0702249696 by Cate Morriss.How can we better understand peace as a concept with multiple meanings? This is a challenge that Ivana Milojevic confronts throughout Breathing Violence in Peace Out (University of Queensland Press, 2013). The book examines the impact of trans-generational trauma as a barrier to peace. It does so from both individual and collective perspectives. This is achieved by tracing various events associated with Stalinist repression in the Soviet Union, the Second World War and the 1990s breakup of the Yugoslav Federation. The book asks if peace is possible, and if so what is required to achieve it? The author argues that to attain peace we need to take a holistic approach to understanding what drives and sustains conflict. Revealing personal experiences of state violence and trauma, she demonstrates how these directly and indirectly shape life traj...

This article explores the use of gender mainstreaming as a strategy of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) in its Pacific Plan for Strengthening Regional Cooperation and Integration, and the difficulties that this approach presents in terms of meaningful outcomes. Adopting a single strategy of gender mainstreaming has some challenges at a regional level, not the least that of ensuring adequate monitoring and evaluation at country level when budgets are already strained. However it will show that, despite the problematic nature of the gender strategy, there have been a number of positive steps initiated both in the Pacific and from within Australia under the auspices of the Pacific Plan even though identifying overall regional progress is hindered somewhat by the Plans reporting processes. The Pacific Island Forum The Pacific Island Forum has attempted to address the under-representation of regional women in decision making by supporting various programs to improve attitudes toward, and ...

Social Alternatives Vol. 28 No. 4, 2009 19 The Pacific Plan and Gender: Policies, Programs, and (has there been any) Progress CATE MORRISS The Pacific Island Forum The Pacific Island Forum has attempted to address the under-representation of regional women in decision ...

The Pacific Plan and Gender: Policies, Programs, and (has there been any) Progress. Pacific politics has long been the domain of men but women have been taking proactive steps to move out of the shadows of patriarchal systems of government and push further into the political spotlight. The Pacific Islands Forum has acknowledged this and taken steps to assist with rectifying the imbalance in regional parliaments by initiating a number of strategies to overcome existing barriers for Pacific women. Adopting a gender policy themselves in the 1990s, and employing a gender officer within the Forum Secretariat has assisted the Forum to raise its own awareness of gender issues. However their ten year plan for regional development, the Pacific Plan for Strengthening Regional Cooperation and Integration has some challenges to overcome if it is to be seen as a gender-empowering policy. Adopting a single strategy of gender mainstreaming has some challenges at a regional level, not the least tha...

This booklet follows on from the first training manual ‘Gender Inclusive approaches to Peace building’. It covers some aspects of political research that are part of a field in International Relations that has struggled at times to be positioned within the mainstream. Although there is much about it that screams ‘academic’ it is my hope that you find it interesting and that it is able to enhance your knowledge base of feminist approaches to political processes and of the gendered aspects of political systems. Contents: SECTION ONE CONCEPTS OF GENDER AND GENDER ROLES Introduction 1 Feminist study or research; finding some clarity regarding the terminology 2 So .. why have a feminist perspective? 5 Origins of feminist research 6 Feminist Standpoint Theory 8 SECTION TWO STATES, POWER, AND GENDER States, Hierarchical Systems And Feminist Theory 10 The Masculinisation of Power Relations 11 The Gender Agenda 13 Some Practical Applications 16 How to translate great ideas into reality? 18

This manual is designed for use by senior staff and managers of schools and education service providers. The aim is to ensure that understanding of gender and the need for gender equality gains clarity at the highest levels of school management and professionals in this sector have the skills to mentor and encourage staff in building a gender sensitive culture in the school environment. Positive attitudes to gender equality in turn will flow on through policy and best practices to the implementation of gender friendly teaching and service for students. The manual has four main components: Contextual discussion – Each chapter begins with a theoretical and contextual section that situates the content within contemporary understandings of gender and education. These sections are designed as background readings to assist facilitator in gaining a solid basis for guiding and mentoring participants. While these discussions are not initially intended as content in the workshops they may wel...

First published 2008 Morriss C 2008. Gender Inclusive Approaches to Peacebuilding: NGO Handbook for staff training.Coventry Publications Qld introduction: This booklet is not intended to solve dilemmas of gender disparity. Nor is it a comprehensive or exhaustive compilation of material. What it does hope to achieve is to give NGOs a starting point for self reflection. Gender equality is a critical component of peace processes and there is not only a great deal to be gained by actively including gender analysis in program design and delivery, there is an obligation to do so. The overarching aim of peace oriented NGOs is to contribute to such issues as poverty reduction, improving human rights conditions and promoting environments of harmony and opportunity for growth and development. These aims are in line with the UN Millennium Development Declaration. Contributions from both men and women must be acknowledged. Women must be a part of societies decision making and welfare developmen...

Valuing the First Voice of Pacific Women is a valuable publication providing the intellectual and political framework for analysing and understanding regional intergovernmental policy development. It has elucidated a strong standpoint that the voices of Pacific Islander women are critical in any governance framework to ensure measurable and sustainable outcomes in all forms of development.

This book is about people and how the experience of people can contribute to the making of policy and processes that advances their living standards, creates new opportunities for inclusiveness, and ensures that the rights and wellbeing of people are respected and indeed honoured. It is about women, and in particular, it is about Pacific Islander women’s experiences of inclusion or exclusion in regional policy-making processes.

The future Sustainable Development Goals and the UN post 2015 Development Agenda must take a more integrated approach to the sustainable development of Small Island Developing States, with the support of the international community and all stakeholders. In doing so, gender equity must be an outcome that is driven by the First Voice of women in the Pacific.

Globalisation has forced the island states of the Pacific to renew and strengthen commitments to cooperate and integrate. Debate has often centred on the possibility of a unionisation of the small island states along the lines of the European Union; however this is usually ...

Valuing the First Voice of Pacific Women is a valuable publication providing the intellectual and political framework for analysing and understanding regional intergovernmental policy development. It has elucidated a strong standpoint that the voices of Pacific Islander women are critical in any governance framework to ensure measurable and sustainable outcomes in all forms of development.

This book is about people and how the experience of people can contribute to the making of policy and processes that advances their living standards, creates new opportunities for inclusiveness, and ensures that the rights and wellbeing of people are respected and indeed honoured. It is about women, and in particular, it is about Pacific Islander women’s experiences of inclusion or exclusion in regional policy-making processes.

The future Sustainable Development Goals and the UN post 2015 Development Agenda must take a more integrated approach to the sustainable development of Small Island Developing States, with the support of the international community and all stakeholders. In doing so, gender equity must be an outcome that is driven by the First Voice of women in the Pacific.

In recent years, successive Australian governments have seemingly forsaken their moral compass in regard to management of, and duty of care to, refugees and asylum seekers arriving by sea. Australia has increasingly become subject to stern criticism by the international community over policies judged to be in breach of international laws and conventions, inhumane in nature, and most disturbingly overtly abusive of those seeking protection. This chapter explores the context, practice and outcomes of offshore detention and processing under the Australian government’s 2001 Pacific Solution, including the current governments border protection policy of offshore resettlement. It examines the presence of structural violence as a policy strategy, along with the concepts of moral obligation and an ethics of care in the context of their contribution to building sustainable and peaceful solutions. Evidence of the gendered nature of the detention centers reveals the levels of male emasculation and infantilization, sexual abuse, assaults, intimidation and other forms of violence against men, women and children. It explores the problem of despair amongst detainees from a philosophical and practical perspective. Attention is then focused on examples of structural, direct and social violence in the Manus Island and Nauru detention centers. Finally, it concludes that successive Australian governments have been morally bereft and ethically unsound in their implementation of offshore detention as a response to the forced migration crisis of the early twenty-first century.
Keywords: Australia, Offshore detention policy, Forced migration, Pacific solution, Structural violence.