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State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Project
Australian National University

1. Introduction

It would be easy for the outsider searching for examples of innovative feminist development initiatives to dismiss the significance of church women's groups, particularly if the groups' activities focussed on spiritual growth, sewing and crafts. This is exactly the focus that many church women's groups in the Solomon Islands adopt, yet they have enormous potential for empowering women. In the highly dispersed rural villages of the Solomons [1] these groups offer opportunities for networking, solidarity building and non-formal education opportunities (Scheyvens, 1993; 1995b). In addition, a small number of more dynamic church women's groups have broadened their approach in recent years in an attempt to address the structural disadvantage women face in society.

This chapter provides examples of innovative development strategies which have been initiated by three such church women's groups. I argue that, with a slight change of tack, many other church women's groups could play an effective role in actively transforming women's lives.
 

2. Women's status in the Solomon Islands

As other authors have noted, people in many Melanesian communities [2] feel marginalised from development efforts. Their lives are characterised by feelings of '...powerlessness, isolation and disenfranchisement' (Cox, 1994:386). This appears especially so for women.

Evidence suggests that in the social, political and economic upheaval that has ensued since the British colonised the Solomon Islands, women have been the biggest losers (Bennett, 1987). Many writers argue that in various societies around the world where women once held some political power this was quickly undermined by the colonisers both through overtly sexist policies and through their general attitude to and treatment of local people (Boesveld, 1986:37; Jaquette, 1982:273; Evans, 1990:33). In the Solomon Islands, for example, outsiders attempted to belittle or outlaw traditions or rituals in which women's power was affirmed (Jolly and MacIntyre, 1989:14; Bennett, 1987:12-13). Meanwhile, women's subsistence agriculture work, through which they could accrue certain status, left women to be labelled by colonisers as 'beasts of burden' (Ryan, 1975:8,19). Eventually subsistence agriculture became undervalued as a cash-based economy took hold. Also, proselyting churches which preached in favour of the communal family unit and men's control over this effectively undermined a domain of control, the household, which had previously been in women's hands (Dureau, 1993:20). Through access to new technologies, training in technical skills and an academic education being limited largely to men, the colonial government and churches bestowed on men the means of gaining status in the modern sector of the economy. [3] In contrast, women were left to continue with their traditional roles, as well as to assist men with the newly planted cash crops, even though they had little control over the money derived from such activities.

Consequently, with the arrival of Independence it was men who had more opportunities to access new forms of power, such as white collar employment and cash, while women were left feeling that they had little of value to contribute to society (Scheyvens, 1995a:Ch.5). Jully Sipolo (1986:8), in this extract of her poem 'Mi Mere', points out that for many rural women in the Solomon Islands, life in their post-colonial, independent country offers fewer new opportunities than one might hope:

In the post-colonial period women's sense of inadequacy has been reinforced by development agencies which fail to consult them when planning community projects and by clan members who overlook women's ideas when making decisions about the use of communal resources. In both matrilineal and patrilineal societies, many women have been dismayed when forest and marine resources are signed over to logging and fishing companies without any consultation with them. It is as if women's opinions are no longer of value. This is a phenomenon which has affected women throughout South Pacific states:

3. Approaches to women's development

With this failure to reverse the decline in the social status of women after the winning of Independence, it is apparent that women need to be specifically targeted in the development process if they are to share in its benefits. A number of different approaches targeting women's development have arisen, however, which must be recognised when evaluating the efficacy of women's development initiatives. [4] Below I will discuss two such contrasting approaches, welfare and empowerment, which have direct relevance to the Solomon Islands context.
 

The limitations of a welfare approach

In the tradition of the missionaries who first established women's groups in Melanesia, most church women's groups adopt a welfare approach. A welfare approach focuses on women in their roles as wives and mothers, posing them as passive beneficiaries, rather than active agents of change (Moser, 1989). Common programmes under this approach include cooking and nutrition, sewing and crafts, and maternal-child health. While there is a need for these programmes, an overall focus on such subjects precludes attention to many other issues of concern to women.

A fundamental deficiency of the welfare approach is that it does not attempt to overcome women's subordinate position in society. The home economics-style projects of the welfare approach are politically and culturally safe; they do not challenge men's realms of power, and they may even make living conditions more comfortable for men. Some may argue that this is quite acceptable, and that as long as women continue to ask for sewing and cooking classes, they should not have western feminist ideologies and strategies forced upon. However, it is my contention that Solomon Islands women do want to overcome their oppression. While they may not use the language of Western academics in naming their subordination, by identifying concerns such as their lack of control over communally held land, their safety in their own homes and the lack of women to represent their views in political spheres, [5] women are identifying gender inequities as key areas of concern for them. These are concerns which the welfare approach, however, has no interest in addressing.
 

The significance of an empowerment approach

By contrast, an empowerment approach to women's development is directly concerned with challenging the status quo with the aim of working towards more equitable societies (Moser, 1989:1815). Empowerment is a crucial aspect of development for marginalised people, including women, who wish to overturn systems of oppression (Friedmann, 1992). It can be particularly significant for those women who have a poor sense of self-worth (Rowlands, 1997).

The empowerment approach emerged mainly from the writings of Third World feminists and from the grassroots organisational experience of Third World women (Sen and Grown, 1987). These women, having been subject to various unsuccessful development initiatives in their countries for many years, were determined to get across that:

Alternative strategies, focusing on empowerment, can aim to do several things: to enhance women's life choices; to achieve certain long term changes including a transformation of the subordinate relationship of women to men; to activate a change of consciousness among women (Anderson and Baud, 1987:30); and to increase women's influence over decision making processes at every level of society (Longwe, 1991).
 

4. The value of women's organisations

Many writers have noted the contribution that strong, grassroots women's organisations can make to the empowerment of women (Maguire, 1984:60; Small, 1987:47). Through encouraging collective action, women's organisations help women to identify their concerns and work to achieve more power (Bruce, 1989:987; Staudt, 1987; Schuler, 1986). Women's organisations also provide women with opportunities for attaining leadership and management skills and for developing networks (Hoskins, n.d.:3). Many women benefit from women's organisations because they contribute to a broadening of their awareness and an increase in confidence (Yudelman, 1987:111):

We must, however, be careful not to assume that all women's organisations are an avenue for women's empowerment (Elson, 1991:193). They are not automatic vehicles for women's emancipation (Sen and Grown, 1987:93), nor are they '...magically democratic, egalitarian, or non-hierarchical' (Staudt, 1990:311). Some are undoubtedly elitist, or committed to reinforcing the status quo, and others are welfare-oriented.

Examples which have emerged recently have, nevertheless, shown that women's organisations can concurrently meet short term needs of members and contribute to their long term empowerment. [6] It has been suggested, therefore, that the growth of women's organisations at grassroots level may have more potential for transforming oppressive structures than the many 'women's projects' initiated for, instead of by, women around the world. Because of the failure of the top-down, male-dominated planning process to address women's needs in many situations, Kabeer (1992), asserts that women will have to work for change themselves. Schuster (1982:534) agrees: '...women will not be 'given' their freedom to participate in wider social interests....They will not be 'given' equality with men. They will have to claim it'.

The question which the remainder of this chapter will consider, therefore, is whether church women's groups are assisting women of the Solomons in working for change and claiming this equality.
 

5. The significance of traditional church women's organisations in the Solomons for women's development

Activities of early church women's groups in the Melanesian countries were based on the traditional European housewife ideal [7] with classes, for example, on the now infamous topics of embroidering pillowcases and baking drop scones (Lee, 1985). This home economics legacy, a characteristic of the welfare approach, is still evident in the 1990s. In Auki, a small town in the Solomons, for example, an elite woman organising a Women's Week for members of church women's groups in 1991 wanted to include sessions on flower arranging and setting a table for a dinner party.

In the Solomon Islands there are five major churches which each have an extensive network of women's groups. [8] Thus women's groups exist, or are in a state of limbo, in most villages in the Solomon Islands. Their typical format consists of weekly meetings following Western meeting protocol and including songs, prayers and other activities such as weaving, sewing, games or community service. A number of groups have income generating projects focusing on market gardening, sewing or poultry raising and many have a bank account. Most of the women I spoke to were, however, crying out for ideas or activities which could enliven their groups: 'This group is sort of blind...it needs help' (Ruth Rickson, Birao women's group, Guadalcanal, 1992: personal communication). As women from neighbouring Vanuatu have argued, the focus on domestic topics '...fails to equip women to play a more dynamic role in the development process' (Women of Vanuatu, 1983:3).

Although the welfare approach adopted by most of these groups does not directly challenge the subordinate status of women in post-colonial Melanesian society, church women's groups do have certain points in their favour. Essentially, they are the only organisations with effective networks which reach down to, and make links between, women at village level. Many other agencies, though they may have direct access to overseas funds and technical support for their programmes, do not touch upon the lives of the majority of women. Women claim that while politicians make promises, while national women's organisations send representatives to hold workshops for them every few years and while NGOs occasionally visit, it is the churches that are always there for them (National Women's Policy Review Committee, 1988:45, 132). Strong similarities regarding the importance of the churches can be seen when considering Papua New Guinea's situation:

At the very least, attending these groups allows women to share their ideas and opinions. Such participation can build individual confidence and enhance solidarity among women. Through this women can learn not merely to accept, but to make choices, and to initiate action (Ryan, 1975:79-80). In addition, the groups often give village women hitherto unavailable opportunities to travel to workshops or to bigger meetings where they can network with other women's groups from outside their immediate area. Women's mobility and their introduction to outside ideas has subsequently increased.

Church women's groups also offer women a role to play in ritual. While this may be a limited step, for example, in allowing women to read out prayers during a church service, this is a bigger role than women had ever played in traditional ancestor worship:

Thus while some may question the activities of church women's groups that are founded upon a welfare approach to women's development, it would be difficult to deny the tremendous role most church women's groups have played by providing women with a space away from their everyday activities, and encouraging networking and solidarity building among women.
 

6. Transformatory activities by church women's organisations in the Solomons

Other church women's groups in the Solomon Islands have expanded their focus and, while offering women all the advantages discussed above, also give women the opportunity to gain greater faith in their own abilities, broaden their life opportunities and act on issues of concern to them; their initiatives directly empower women. There are indications that, with the help of such women's groups, women are gaining increasing control over their own lives and working together to effect change.

The examples provided below demonstrate that being based in patriarchal, hierarchical societies has not prevented church women's groups from working for future, transformative change.
 

Catholic women's groups in Malaita

In 1992, the Catholic Church in the Solomons was divided into three dioceses. One of these was Auki diocese, centred on Malaita, a province associated with strong patrilineal traditions. Women in Malaita seem to face even greater struggles to gain status and to share in development opportunities than do women elsewhere in the Solomons.

In 1990 the Auki Diocesan Team was established in response to requests from Catholic women in surrounding villages for assistance to form women's groups. Two religious sisters and an expatriate woman were the first members of the Team but by 1992 the Team was run largely by several local women. From the beginning the Team had the official endorsement of the Bishop of Malaita, an expatriate who had lived in Malaita for over 30 years and was known for speaking out publicly on issues of women's rights and status. This lent the Team a great deal of credibility, which was especially important in the early stages of their work when Team members needed to build up the trust of villagers.

The Team started out by visiting women in villages alongside the Langa Langa Lagoon to see what they wanted from their women's groups. Most said that as this was the first time anyone had done something just for women, they were keen to learn whatever they could. At first sewing classes and cooking demonstrations were provided but before long the Team found, by drawing women into discussions about their lives, that there were more fundamental changes women wanted to work towards. These changes involved husbands and wives working together and sharing together, and building sisterhood through their women's groups (Sheila MacBride-Stewart, Facilitator, Auki Diocesan Team, 1992: personal communication).

The Team's first effort at networking was the organisation of a gathering of 129 women's representatives from every parish in Auki diocese for a ten day meeting at a centre in Buma. This involved many women travelling large distances by land or sea. For many it was the first time any women from their village had been allowed to travel to a distant place without their husbands. Many were afraid because they had to mix with women from different tribal and language groups. They were pleased to discover, however, that those facilitating the various learning sessions were basically women like themselves from the villages, mothers and wives, not young, highly educated women dressed in fancy clothes. For example, one of the Team members, Patricia Wale (Pati), had seven children. Another was Mary Taikui who had limited primary school education but had attended several agriculture courses and spoke six of the local languages, plus Pijin and English. Some of the participants at Buma expressed that they liked having these women as leaders because they were tired of listening to men telling them what to do.

The meeting at Buma turned out to be a watershed event for participants. Although they had come to learn about community work, women's leadership and women's role in development, the first few days were spent talking about their experiences as women. While they spoke of hardship and frustration and many tears were shed, they moved on to discuss their roles in society and the importance of what they contributed. Thus women came to realise that they were not useless. These discussions had, '...for the first time given to the women a sense of their worth...this has stressed their dignity and value to the family and the community' (Catholic Diocese of Malaita, 1992). Women at this gathering were also given ideas to take back to their villages with the aim of establishing women's groups there.

The Team followed the Buma gathering with an extensive programme which saw them travelling to organise workshops for women in every parish in Malaita, often in remote areas where there had never before been a course organised especially for women. The approach the Team took meant that within three years the number of active Catholic women's groups in Auki diocese rose from seven to just over one hundred. Rather than focusing on material development, the Team chose to try to build up Malaitan women's sense of dignity and self-esteem so they would have the confidence to speak out and make changes in their lives. This is in contrast to attempts to secure sewing machines or funds for a poultry project, the 'material' development which characterises women's group activities across the country.

Comments arising from these first workshops reflected the joy women felt at this new opportunity to come together and learn, as well as a certain degree of nervousness about the challenges ahead of them:

In other villages around Malaita women started to open themselves to new opportunities and to speak out in public. In one village there two women gained election to the school committee and in another, two women were elected to the parish council. Such moves were unprecedented in these areas and their implications for women in Malaitan society should not be underestimated. Team members were encouraged to note that women were often the driving force behind planning activities in their village. They no longer sat quietly at the back of community meetings as they were not so afraid to speak out for what they believed to be right. Their improved self-esteem inspired women to take up training opportunities too. When a literacy trainer from Honiara held a workshop for representatives of women's groups who had worked with the Team she was amazed by how keen they were to learn. The trainer felt it was as though someone had proved to the women that they had something worthwhile to offer and this made them stand out from other groups she had trained (Lesley Moseley, literacy trainer, 1992: personal communication).

Further, the Team tried to address the problem of lack of support from husbands by devoting one day of village workshops to awareness-raising for men. By doing this, the Team showed that it realised women's programmes do not occur in a vacuum and that women across Malaita want to have men's support. Eventually the women's groups also started to get formal recognition from men. In some villages which hosted workshops, for example, local men played pan pipes to welcome women from other areas into their community. This was a sign of the status such women's events were accorded. In one tragic situation a woman was struck by lightening and killed as she travelled home from a women's workshop. This threatened the cohesiveness of her group and women's freedom to travel away from home as, traditionally, death by such a cause was seen as a sign of the woman having committed some great sin, such as adultery. Her husband stood up at the funeral, however, and urged the women to continue with the good work they were doing, stressing that they must not stop because of the death of his wife. Another woman from a group in South Malaita, an area in which hereditary systems of leadership prevail, was asked to join the local Council of Chiefs because the men in the area were so impressed with the work women were doing for their communities by reviving traditions of assisting the old and the sick (Sheila MacBride-Stewart, Facilitator, Auki Diocesan Team, 1993: personal communication). In such circumstances, although this community work would have increased women's workloads, it has also opened up unprecedented opportunities for them to earn respect from those with authority and power. Consequently, avenues to male dominated decision making structures are also opening up to women.

Other men came to support the work of the Team because they saw that the new skills their wives were learning, such as literacy or supsup gardening, could benefit their families. While the direct objectives of the Team were not to teach women to provide tastier meals for their husbands or to have the skills to help their children with school work, these indirect consequences of their work meant that the Team faced little resistance despite the fact that the work they carried out was transforming the lives of many women in Malaita. Women are being empowered right under men's noses but in such a way that they have not had to face widespread opposition.

The work of the Auki Diocesan Team was based on a programme devised by, and for, women at grassroots level and it had widespread effects. Perhaps the biggest transformation was the fact that, as women became empowered, they started to question the status quo. They went on from this stage to challenge forces in society which were preventing them from realising their potential. Women challenged kastom [11]by travelling away from home without their husbands accompanying them and they challenged their set roles by taking on leadership positions at the community level. Women gained access to domains of power previously dominated by men, such as school councils and even the Council of Chiefs in South Malaita. Women's status increased as they took on such new positions.

The Team's rationale has been that without a sense of self-esteem and dignity women cannot hope to see themselves as being able to contribute substantially to their country's development. There was nothing radical in this prescription but it had a major impact on the lives of thousands of women across Malaita province; they were empowered.
 

The Mother's Union

The Mother's Union is the name of the women's organisation of the Church of Melanesia (Anglican) and is part of a world-wide charitable society. The Mother's Union was established in the Solomons in 1924. Until the 1970s all activities were church-oriented and in line with the welfare approach, focusing on the role of mothers in providing for their families. On the surface the Mother's Union in the Solomon Islands still seems a very conservative organisation. Its aims and objectives stress spiritual development and maintenance of Christian family life and, as is evident in the organisation's name, the maternal role of women is promoted. It is not surprising, therefore, that village women's groups have focused largely on home economics activities. The Mother's Union would not formally associate itself with the Solomon Islands National Council of Women in the 1980s because it did not want to be seen to be involved with a political organisation.

Gradually, however, there has been a move away from this conservative stance as those running the Mother's Union at the national level have taken a fairly liberal interpretation of their objectives: 'Now we realise we have to stretch our awareness' (Pamela Abana, Provincial Secretary, Church of Melanesia Mother's Union, 1992: personal communication). This was reflected in the seventies with the introduction of health and sanitation projects, in the early eighties with awareness-raising about foreign logging companies and the start of village kindergartens run by local women, and in the late eighties with the initiation of literacy programmes.

The focus of the Mother's Union in the early 1990s was non-formal education. It has, for example, become one of the major organisations concerned with literacy training in the Solomon Islands. A pilot literacy programme was initiated in Honiara in 1989, which later expanded to Auki, Kohimarama, Buala, Lata and Kira Kira, thus spanning five provinces. Funds were provided so that teachers could travel more and additional learning materials were purchased. The Mother's Union has targeted women in its literacy programmes in attempt to bridge the large gap which sees 27 percent of men literate in English but only 17 percent of women (Solomon Islands National Literacy Committee, 1992). This means that women are less able than men to gain an education or paid employment and less able to communicate at an official level, where the written word is often required. Literacy classes have, therefore, expanded many women's life options. By inviting women to bring their children to the literacy classes, the Mother's Union has actively supported women in their reproductive roles.

Besides launching into non-formal education programmes, the Mother's Union has been showing more concern for political issues, particularly logging. Logging has been occurring at well beyond the sustainable rate which means that the commercial resource could be exhausted in 10-15 years. It is unlikely that the Solomon Islands government will put a stop to this logging, however, when timber accounted for nearly 60 percent of total merchandise exports in 1993 (AIDAB, 1994:6). In response to the non-sustainability of logging practices, and the lack of consultation with women when logging agreements are signed, the Mother's Union organised a meeting of the Isabel Honiara Community in November 1991 to raise awareness and issues of concern regarding the Axion logging company which was in the process of establishing itself in Isabel. Considerable organisation went into this meeting with the MP for East Isabel, a representative of the chiefs and a church representative being present, as well as almost 100 members of the Isabel Honiara Community. Mother's Union members presented alternatives to allowing foreign companies to come in and log their forests. Next a statement was made on behalf of the women of Isabel and the Mother's Union strongly recommending that large scale mining and logging development be discouraged:

The Mother's Union also tackled the sensitive issue of domestic violence at a time when other organisations were not willing to take any steps in this direction. Domestic violence is evidently widespread in the Solomon Islands, although it is of particular concern in urban areas where alcohol, which is more readily available, may act as a trigger, where traditional roles have broken down, and where women often do not have kin nearby to come to their assistance and place traditional sanctions on the men concerned. Nius Blong Mere (1986:5-7) published a series of statements concerning domestic violence which were heard around Honiara:

In order to provide a refuge for women and children facing such abuse within the home, the Mother's Union was, in 1992, raising funds to construct a three-story building, the 'Saint Agnes Training Centre'. [12] This was to include a ground floor with classrooms and training facilities for literacy and other work, a floor above for cheap transit accommodation for trainers and trainees, and a third floor for family units, which were intended specifically for those women and children who were fleeing abusive relationships and had nowhere else to turn. The Mother's Union purposely did not promote the intended use of the units because they did not want to attract negative publicity. Any organisation which had considered providing a similar type of refuge for women in the past had been condemned for supposedly helping to break up families.

This gradual swing in direction within the women's group of the largest church in the Solomon Islands is a very encouraging sign. While the aims and objectives of the Mother's Union set it up as being a conservative church organisation following the welfare approach to women's development, and while village groups may still centre their activities around home economics issues based upon women's maternal roles, the Mother's Union has gradually broadened its perspective. Leaders of the Mother's Union in Honiara have supported an empowerment approach, gradually redirecting the emphasis of the organisation's activities so that women will have more opportunities to be politicised and empowered.
 

United Church Women's Fellowship (UCWF)

Ten percent of Solomon Islanders, largely those concentrated in Western and Choiseul provinces, belong to the United Church (Methodist). The United Church Women's Fellowship (UCWF) is a large department of the church, embracing hundreds of women's groups. Each group is supposed to be guided by a 'Four-Square Programme', altering their activities each week around the themes of devotion, education (such as weaving mats, sewing and craft), service (visiting and helping the sick and the elderly) and recreation (games, kastom dancing, and 'bring and buy' fundraising stalls). These official activities are clearly set within the welfare approach to women's development.

It has been more in the areas of networking and information sharing than in its programmes that the UCWF has really made progress. One of the ways in which leaders develop cohesion among UCWF members is by means of a UCWF uniform, dresses of a purple colour which members were very proud to own and wear, as well as a flag and a promise memorised by all of the different groups (Ryan, 1975:63). A more significant way in which cohesion is sponsored, however, is through networking. From their start as small groups of women meeting together with early missionaries for prayer and to learn to sew, UCWF leaders developed an elaborate structure binding women from the smallest villages scattered across Western Province and Choiseul into a single, cohesive organisation. In 1992, the UCWF's internal network consisted of individual groups, moving up to 'sections' which consisted of a number of groups, 'circuits' which embraced several sections and finally, the Solomon Islands 'region', made up of eleven circuits in total. This structure provides UCWF members with many opportunities to come together to meet and share with women from further afield than their own village. A typical pattern is for groups to meet once a week, then once a month they have a meeting with other groups in their section and once a year all women's groups within a circuit are invited together for a time of prayer and fellowship at a 'rally'.

Rallies offer several hundred women at a time a rare opportunity to leave behind their family and community responsibilities for a week and to express solidarity with those from different tribal and language areas. At rallies women have time to discuss problems, ideas and solutions to the pressures facing them. For example, when the Marovo circuit met in 1991, their aim was to raise educational awareness on the exploitation of the environment and pollution of rivers, air, land and sea. Women presented dramas relating to these themes which prompted discussions on their common concern about the preservation of reefs in the Marovo lagoon.

Rallies and circuit meetings also force communities to recognise their women's groups and the work they do. The fact that twenty women from one small village [13] could be allowed to attend a rally is a testimony to the power which UCWF groups, with the backing of the church, yield within their communities. In such circumstances husbands often have to take on duties unfamiliar to many of them such as child care, meal preparation and gardening. With support from the church UCWF women do not feel so afraid to challenge their husbands, and kastom, in this way. For the community hosting a rally or circuit meeting the fact that men, women and children are willing to work together to erect temporary houses and gather provisions for all of the participants means that the UCWF must have developed a certain degree of status. In a three day circuit meeting I attended in South Choiseul in 1996, men spent a good part of each day fishing for provisions for the women who were gathered in their village, and some men also assisted with cooking and serving the food to women. It is a rare sight in the Solomon Islands to see women sitting down to eat while men stand waving small bundles of greenery over the cooked food to keep the flies away.

Support from the United Church for women's development, endorsed by their policy of recruiting female clergy, [14] has also given some women the confidence to challenge husbands who try to prevent them from attending meetings. For example, a researcher on the island of Simbo noted at least two separate occasions when, after being asked why they were not fully participating in church affairs, women stood up and accused men of being lazy when it came to child care. The men reacted angrily to these accusations. At least part of the problem was that some men regarded women's participation in UCWF groups as a leisure activity, while the Church '...presents the UCWF as a Christian theatre of female enablement' (Dureau, 1993:26).

Participation in UCWF groups means a great deal to many women, such as those on Simbo:

While the UCWF essentially follows a welfare approach to women's development with the 'Four Square Programme' providing the basis of group activities in the villages, its approach to networking has managed to bring about small but significant changes for many women. The UCWF provides women with unprecedented opportunities to travel and to meet and learn from women with whom they would normally have no contact. This broadens women's awareness and is likely to give women a wider understanding of ways of overcoming problems common to women in their country. Thus networking can be a very empowering experience for women whose lives usually centre on the home and food production in their gardens. The network of UCWF groups across the western part of the Solomons provides the main avenue for women to achieve prominence in village life (Dureau, 1993:26). The willingness of UCWF leaders to tackle political issues in recent years also points to the likelihood of more empowering initiatives being sponsored by them in the future.
 

7. Conclusion

This chapter has discussed attempts by church women's groups to promote women's development. These initiatives largely fall under the two categories of welfare and empowerment. While the welfare approach still has a strong hold on programmes for women being run by church women's groups in the Solomon Islands, it is promising to see that several 'traditional' church women's groups are moving beyond these bounds and are beginning to empower women. Some church women's groups have perpetuated a narrow vision of women's development potential but others have clearly broadened the opportunities open to women and encouraged them to question mainstream development. The latter groups, however, are the exception, rather than the rule, with regard to the initiatives of women's groups in the Solomons.

Most church women's groups assist women in performing their traditional roles better rather than opening up new opportunities for them. By concentrating on a limited range of women's needs, especially those focusing on the domestic scene, church women's groups have actually reinforced women's disadvantage:

In identifying organisations which have adopted innovative approaches to women's development I am not necessarily dismissing those which do not overtly challenge women's disadvantaged position in society. It was shown that all church women's groups offered women some benefits in terms of giving them a chance to come together, share their experiences and learn new skills which they can feel proud of, even if this is limited to sewing and cooking. This is not where the major contribution to facilitating women's empowerment and development is, however. The major contribution to women's empowerment is found in women's groups which are concerned with overcoming gender inequalities.

Women have indicated that they want change, and this is one clear reason why the welfare approach should not be allowed to dominate the activities of church women's groups any longer. Women have unequivocally demonstrated their willingness to make changes in order to gain more control over their lives and they have opened themselves to new knowledge and opportunities along the way. While the significance of isolated cases whereby a woman has been emboldened to stand for election to a school council, or women have enrolled for literacy classes because they are allowed to bring their children along, or they have attended meetings to air their views on resource exploitation, or women have travelled to a distant village for a meeting, may not be immediately apparent, these are all unprecedented actions for many Solomon Islands women and thus indicate that women are attempting to take control of their own lives and influence the direction of future change. The steps they have make are inspired by the work of innovative women's groups working at grassroots level.

Empowerment-oriented groups have had a transformative effect on women's lives by offering women opportunities beyond the bounds of their everyday existence, by enhancing women's self-esteem and their sense of control over their lives, and by promoting gender equity. While practical skills are important for women, it is equally important that development initiatives should inspire a change of consciousness in women, reassuring them of their worth, the importance of their contribution to society and what they can do to change their situation if they are unhappy with it.

It is encouraging to see that when women at grassroots level do receive attention in the form of efforts to empower them, the results are dramatic and wide ranging. Some women spoke out in public for the first time while others took up leadership positions or stood up to logging companies. This is a powerful tribute to the fact that a little attention paid to women at grassroots level, especially if this involves consciousness-raising and the building of self-esteem, can have very positive and significant effects on women's lives.

Furthermore, men were often forced to reconsider their relations with women and their expectations of women because of the actions of church women's groups. The Auki Diocesan Team and UWCF women used the socially sanctioned avenue of their church groups to encourage men to make compromises, such as allowing their wives to attend workshops, which gave the women unprecedented freedom and a little more control over their lives. Mother's Union representatives challenged church and political leaders by calling a large meeting of the Isabel Honiara Community, arguing that women's views about the exploitation of communal resources should no longer be ignored.

Separate groups for women are thus clearly still important in enabling women to build bases of power from which to challenge spheres of male domination. In addition to teaching women skills and involving them in the administration of the organisation, which builds their confidence and contributes to psychological empowerment, [16] women's groups also contributed to social or political empowerment by providing a safe environment in which women can articulate their concerns, develop solutions to their collective problems and explore their potential.
 

Potential for future transformatory change

In the context of a country like the Solomon Islands where women are considerably disadvantaged, it is tempting to assume that initiatives which pose a direct challenge to the status quo will contribute the most to bringing about a long term transformation of society. The case studies herein, however, show that using subtle strategies can encourage quite dramatic changes in women's lives. For example, many of the women's groups inspired by the Auki Diocesan Team began their activities with low-key initiatives such as community work, which could not be seen as contributing greatly to their personal development or empowerment. While women were earning the respect and trust of their communities, however, they had the opportunity to build up a sense of solidarity, to determine what their collective interests were and to devise strategies to meet these. Thus the women became personally empowered and moved on to social empowerment, a stage at which they were ready to take action together to bring about desired changes. The respect that women gained from doing community work also led to gains for them in that women were given the freedom to attend workshops away from home and some were asked to take on leadership roles in the wider community, thus giving them unprecedented access to political power. Making compromises without losing sight of a long term agenda to overcome subordination may, therefore, be an effective strategy, especially for women in societies undergoing rapid change but where they are still expected to conform to kastom.

Similarly, by disguising a planned women's refuge as a training centre, the Mother's Union allayed potential opposition without jeopardising their overall objective: to provide women and children with a safe haven when they had nowhere else to turn. Meanwhile the UCWF four square programme has a narrow format which would be unlikely to threaten any man, but through the networking which is an essential part of the activities of UCWF groups, women are broadening their horizons considerably.

Neither the Auki Diocesan Team, the Mother's Union nor the UCWF were explicitly based on a recognition of gender subordination but because they were concerned with women's empowerment, they effectively challenged structures which were oppressing women. These groups found that use of subtle strategies, rather than outright confrontation, was often the most effective means of catalysing changes in women's lives. This finding is very encouraging as it suggests that, with a slight reorientation of their approach, many other women's groups could follow in the footsteps of these groups and adopt a transformative perspective in the future.

The transformatory initiatives above demonstrate that there is enormous potential for widespread empowerment of Solomon Islands women. These examples suggest that the welfare mould has been broken for many women as they revel in the freedom of pursuing more urgent, less superficial, concerns. While the examples from the Catholic Church, United Church and Church of Melanesia may not prove that this trend is universal, they certainly indicate that, through working towards visions for a better future, women are empowering themselves and initiating a process of transformation.

It is clearly possible to work through conservative institutions to empower women, and this may even be desirable if one wishes to avoid stirring up widespread opposition to the programmes being organised. While outsiders may object to the notion of the empowering potential of church women's groups, clearly some such groups in the Solomon Islands have organised initiatives which could radically alter the life chances of rural women. We must, therefore, acknowledge the credibility of a diverse range of alternative visions for empowering women, just as, as Kandiyoti (1988:286) and others have argued, we should recognise that there are many ways in which a feminist consciousness may be displayed (Scheyvens, 1998).
 

Endnotes

[1] Around 85 percent of Solomon Islanders reside in rural areas. The 1986 Census observed that the average village size was only 44.3 persons (Solomon Islands Government, 1986:273).

[2] The countries of Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea are made up predominantly of Melanesian peoples. In addition, the indigenous people of New Caledonia, the Kanaks, and a signficant proportion of the Fijian population, also claim Melanesian ethnicity.

[3] As Fife (1995) notes, however, there were men for whom social power did not increase during the colonial period either.

[4] See Caroline Moser's (1989) discussion of five different policy approaches to women's development which she has observed.

[5] These are some of the concerns noted by women who were consulted during the 'Provincial Tours' of 1988, which involved a group of women travelling throughout the Solomons to hear the views other women on certain issues including, for example, access to and quality of health and education, role of national women's organistions, legal rights and political representation of women. See National Women's Policy Review Committee (1988).

[6] See Women's Feature Service (1993).

[7] See Bennholdt-Thomsen (1988).

[8] Membership of the five major churches in the Solomon Islands is as follows: the Church of Melanesia or Anglican Church (33.9 percent); the Roman Catholic Church (19.2 percent); the South Seas Evangelical Church (17.6 percent); the United Church (11 percent); and the Seventh Day Adventist Church (10 percent).

[9] Tambu means taboo or prohibited

[10] Supsup gardens are fruit and vegetable gardens located near to the home which can provide a ready source of nutritious foods. They complement the larger traditional bush gardens which grow mainly starch vegetables.

[11] Kastom is the pijin word for 'tradition' or 'traditional'.

[12] In 1992 leaders of the Mother's Union could not be certain that they would be able to raise sufficient funds for the training centre to go ahead. SBD$ 400,000 was needed for the first two floors and they had to raise half of this amount before construction could commence.

[13] The 1986 census calculated that the average village size was only 44.3 persons (Solomon Islands Government, 1986:273).

[14] The United Church is regarded as the most liberal in the Solomon Islands in terms of its attitude toward encouraging women to join the ranks of the clergy.

[15] The town of Noro, where the cannery is located, had around 1000 inhabitants in 1996. It draws its female workforce largely from surrounding villages where there are divided opinions on the presence of the cannery. Some appreciate the rare opportunity it provides rural women to earn a wage, while others are upset at what they see as the social decay which has come in its wake.

[16] See Friedmann (1992) for a full discussion of the differences between psychological, social and political empowerment
 

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