Speaking at the Pacific Preparatory Meeting in the Fijian capital of Suva on Tuesday, Fiji's Minister for Women and Children Mereseini Vuniwaqa said Pacific women and girls continue to experience multiple forms of violence at home, at work, and in public spaces, according to Fiji Broadcasting Corporation (FBC).
Vuniwaqa said it's important to recognize those violence as extreme manifestations of gender inequality and systemic gender-based discrimination in a society.
"Girls in the Pacific are still constrained by social norms including harmful practices like child marriages, deeply rooted gender roles, a widespread burden of unpaid care and domestic work, unequal power and voice and outright discrimination," she said.
Across the Pacific region, the minister said, men outnumber women in paid and formal employment while women make up most of the population engaging in vulnerable and informal employment.