of the women surveyed were reluctant to accept change but the case studies reveal that
women are increasingly involved in formal education, employment and politics.
Education and jobs give women more independence not only from men but also from
their kin networks and lead towards increased individualism. In this context, says
Tongamoa, "economic independence causes a reorganisation of traditional structures",
(p91). In community-based societies like those of the Pacific Islands, the effect is all the
more significant.
Vanuatu
CAMMISH, Nadine K. (1994) 'Island daughters: factors affecting the education girls in
Vanuatu', Compare, 24 (2), p. 139-155.
Although there are many anthropological studies on the Melanesian women of Vanuatu,
very little has been written about gender and education in the islands apart from this
article. Based on fieldwork which formed part of an ODA sponsored study Female
participation in education in six developing countries (Brock and Cammish, 1991/4,
q.v.), it examines the geographical, socio-cultural, health, economic, legal and politico-
administrative factors which affect girls' participation in education and also looks at
factors arising from within the education system itself. Census data, figures from the
Ministry of Education and results from the fieldwork survey of primary six pupils'
perceptions about girls' education provide useful documentation not easily available
elsewhere. The evidence shows that the urban/rural dichotomy which marks girls'
access to education in many developing countries, is particularly strong in Vanuatu as is
the core/periphery syndrome: remoteness affects both the availability and accessibility
of schooling, and preserves traditional socio-cultural attitudes. Primary 6 girls in Port
Vila, the tiny capital, confidently expect to go to secondary school & to get jobs in
banks and offices. Those living on remoter islands may not even go to school at all,
even when one is available: tradition assigns them to working in subsistence
agriculture.
Despite problems of accessibility of schools and the traditional low status of girls in
Vanuatu, however, the percentage of them enrolling in Primary School has increased
rapidly over the last few years and more girls are staying on longer. Between 1979 and
1989 the percentage of girls who had completed 6 or more years of education rose from
54% to 70%. At the secondary level however, the limited number of junior secondary
places available, added to problems of distance & accessibility, would seem to preclude
any rapid extension of secondary education for either sex, but some new schools are
being built.