For far too long, international development frameworks and national policies have neatly filed gender issues into separate silos. One department handles the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls (EVAWG). Another focuses on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR).

But on the ground in the Pacific, life does not happen in silos. Grassroots feminist networks have long known that these two areas are deeply entangled. DIVA is actively leading the charge to break down these barriers. Through the Pacific Feminist SRHR Coalition, we are loudly making the connection: we will never successfully eliminate violence if we do not simultaneously defend bodily autonomy, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, and other intersectional human rights.

The Pacific region experiences some of the highest rates of intimate partner violence in the world. What does this mean for healthcare? A woman trapped in an abusive relationship often cannot safely negotiate condom use, access family planning, or visit a clinic without her partner’s permission or threat of retaliation.

In June 2022, headlines in a Fiji national paper reported that fathers-in-law and husbands were unaware their wives were taking contraceptive plans; the concern centred on their exclusion from that decision-making. This really shows the battles women in our country still face regarding their reproductive rights. Married women can use birth control. Period.

Photo: Viva Tatawaqa with DIVA constituency networks at the Just Fixes Room at the DHIVE Community Center

Gender-based violence enforces control over another person’s body. When a woman or a non-binary person is denied the right to make decisions about their own reproductive system—whether through forced pregnancy, coerced contraceptive choices, or lack of access to safe reproductive healthcare—they are experiencing structural violence.

The patriarchal system directly violates women’s fundamental human rights by enforcing social controls that strip away their bodily autonomy and deny them the freedom to make independent decisions about their own body, health and futures.

During the official launch of the Fiji National Action Plan (NAP) to Prevent Violence Against All Women and Girls (2023–2028), the Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Professor Biman Prasad, explicitly named patriarchy as the root cause of gender-based violence in Fiji. The patriarchal system directly violates women’s fundamental human rights by enforcing social controls that strip away their bodily autonomy and deny them the freedom to make independent decisions about their own body, health and futures.

DIVA for Equality consistently emphasizes that patriarchal control does not hit everyone the same way. Lesbian, bisexual, queer women, trans men, and gender non-binary individuals in the Pacific face intersecting layers of discrimination.

When an LGBTQI+ person or a young woman faces sexual assault, they don’t just need a legal system that protects them—they need a healthcare system that respects their gender identity, guarantees confidentiality, and offers stigma-free emergency contraception or HIV care. 

It is time for regional leaders, international donors, and policymakers to catch up to the vision of our feminist movements. We must stop treating violence and Sexual and Reproductive health and rights as distinct anomalies. They are two sides of the same coin.

True safety means having absolute power over your own body. As grassroots advocates remind us, bodily integrity is the foundation of a life free from violence.

True gender justice in the Pacific means a society where every person is safe in their homes and communities, and fully autonomous over their own bodies.

This blog is a reflection piece by Viva Tatawaqa, Co-Executive Director, DIVA for Equality