Contextualising gender policies: encouraging parity of participation through applied theatre

ABSTRACT

International development partnerships are characterised by inherent power relations with community partners often seen as needing assistance in fixing their problems. In this paper, we discuss the limitations of this perspective on the example of gender equality in the Pacific. We explore applied theatre tools to work with a variety of stakeholders to problematise policy issues while exploring different worldviews and knowledges. Our work demonstrates how the voices of community-based organisations can be recognised by governments and donor agencies and how practices of applied theatre can provide tools for designing, reflecting, and advocating for change in joint partnerships.

KEYWORDS:

• Applied theatre
• international development
• gender
• community-based organisations
• Papua New Guinea

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank our partners for the collaboration on this project. We thank the CBO partners Kup Women for Peace, Kafe Urban Settlers’ Women’s Association, the Highlands Women Human Rights Defenders Movement, St Anna’s Crisis Centre and Stingcoins, as well as the University of Goroka, the PNG Department of Justice and Attorney General and the UN Human Rights Office in Port Moresby.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval

Ethical approval for this research project was granted by the Queensland University of Technology’s Ethics Committee (Approval Number 1600001009). Informed consent was obtained from all participants in the research.

Notes

1 PNG is currently one of three countries in the world that does not have women in the National Parliament.

2 https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/samoa-elects-first-female-prime-minister/?template=next.

Additional information

Funding

We acknowledge the support from our funding partners: the Australian Government in partnership with the Government of Papua New Guinea as part of the Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development program and Oxfam in PNG.

Notes on contributors

Jackie Kauli

Jackie Kauli is an Associate Professor in the School of Design, Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice, at Queensland University of Technology. Her research and creative practice focus on applied theatre and process drama in development practice. She works across Australia and Papua New Guinea.

Verena Thomas

Verena Thomas is an Associate Professor in the School of Design, Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice, at Queensland University of Technology. Her research and creative practice focus on communication and social change, visual methods, and co-creative media in Papua New Guinea and the wider Pacific.