25-07-2025
Feminist Leaders Challenge GBV Policy Paper That Recentres Patriarchy And Undermines Survivor-Centred Approaches
Fijian feminist leaders from the Fiji Women's Crisis Centre (FWCC) and Fiji Women's Rights Movement (FWRM) are raising strong concerns over a recent policy paper titled 'Masculinities and Gender-based Violence in Fiji: The Perceptions of iTaukei Men' by Avelina Rokoduru. The paper, published under the New Zealand Pacific Gender Research Portal, has prompted concerns for recentering patriarchal narratives, minimising survivors' voices, and misrepresenting feminism as incompatible with Pacific contexts.
While it is important to engage men in efforts to end gender-based violence (GBV), feminist advocates argue that this paper, which contains perspectives of only 31 men, dangerously prioritises male discomfort over survivor safety and accountability. It positions feminist approaches as ineffective and even obstructive—despite decades of proven leadership by women's rights organisations in Fiji and the Pacific.
'Feminism is not an external import—it is deeply rooted in the Pacific and led by women who have long worked within our cultures, faiths, and values to end violence,' said Nalini Singh, Executive Director of FWRM. 'To frame feminist work as a barrier to national policy is not only misleading—it is dangerous.'
The paper argues that Fiji's GBV response has been hindered by a feminist lens that centres survivors, and suggests policy should be reshaped to reflect men's perspectives and their resistance to current gender discourses. We argue this is a regressive move that reinscribes patriarchy—a system where male dominance is normalised, and women's experiences are devalued.
In reality, feminist-led organisations such as the FWCC, FWRM and DIVA for Equality, and others have driven the most robust national data collection and service delivery on GBV, including the landmark prevalence studies by FWCC (Somebody's Life, Everybody's Business: National Research on Women's Health and Life Experiences in Fiji (2010/2011)) and DIVA for Equality ('Unjust, Unequal, Unstoppable: Fiji LBT women and gender non-conforming people tipping the scales toward justice' (2022)). Yet the paper falsely implies that feminists have prevented data collection on perpetrators, deflecting attention away from state institutions that remain underfunded or uncoordinated.
The paper also frames gender equality as a 'Western' concept, ignoring the long history of Pacific women who have embedded gender justice within cultural, Indigenous, and spiritual frameworks. Feminists caution that such framing can serve to reinforce patriarchal power under the guise of cultural authenticity.
Critically, the paper fails to apply an intersectional lens, excluding voices of LGBTQI+ individuals, women with disabilities, rural and young women—those most affected by GBV and most neglected in state responses. The paper also uses terms like "incompatibility" and "communication breakdown" to explain GBV, rather than clearly naming power and patriarchy as root causes of violence.
'Gender-based violence is about power, not culture,' said Shamima Ali, Coordinator of FWCC. 'Culture can be a tool of healing or harm—what matters is whether it protects rights and promotes safety. This paper sadly reinforces the idea that addressing GBV means making men feel comfortable, rather than making women and survivors feel safe.'
Feminist networks across the Pacific are calling for renewed focus on survivor-centred, intersectional, and anti-patriarchal policies that address the root causes of violence. They stress the need for stronger investment in feminist research, movement-building, and structural reform—not a return to systems that normalise male control.
'We cannot end GBV by reinforcing the same patriarchal logic that created it,' said Nalini Singh. 'We need political courage to move forward—not policy dressed up in gendered neutrality that quietly protects the status quo.'
The one useful contribution the paper makes is that it reinforces what has been said by Fijian and Pacific feminists, but purely anecdotally, and makes no new findings.
Feminist advocates are urging everyone to:
• Recognise and respect the leadership of Pacific feminist and survivor-led organisations;
• Ensure future research on GBV is grounded in intersectional and rights-based frameworks;
• Reject narratives that pit masculinities against feminism; and
• Name and dismantle patriarchy in both policy and practice.
