Men and women in rural Vanuatu society:
Guidance for volunteers
One of the main ways in which traditional societies such as rural Vanuatu's differ from Western society is in their attitudes towards relationships between men and women. Many volunteers who have gone to work on Vanuatu's outer islands have suffered problems, ranging from minor embarrassments to sexual assaults, as a result of these differences.
The following advice, which is based on the experiences of the numerous expatriates I've worked with (both male and female), is intended to help avoid such incidents and ensure that volunteers get the best possible experience from their placements...
Relations between men and women
Traditionally, boys and girls in Vanuatu did not date one another. Marriages were arranged by a couple's parents, and some unfortunate brides were not even aware of these arrangements until the wedding day. Today, many young islanders do have boyfriends and girlfriends, but these relationships are conducted in secrecy. Relationships between men and women outside marriage are strictly forbidden both by the islanders' Christian beliefs and by traditional codes of conduct. Schools and parents, motivated by a desire to uphold moral values and avoid unwanted pregnancies (many youngsters still put their faith in magic leaves for contraception), will severely punish youngsters who are discovered to have boyfriends or girlfriends.
Unlike in Western countries, where men and women mix freely, ni-Vanuatu men and women rarely socialise together. Even husbands and wives spend little time together outside the home.
Boys and girls at school voluntarily take seats on opposite sides of a classroom. At secondary school, even students who are normally outgoing experience deep "shame" (shyness) in the presence of members of the opposite sex, and may be extremely reluctant to work in mixed groups of boys and girls or to stand up and talk in front of a mixed class. Volunteers working in schools should bear this in mind when organising activities.
In Vanuatu's highly-segregated society, certain places and activities in a village may be off-limits to the opposite sex. Nakamals and kava-drinking are traditionally taboo to women, and in some villages there are women's areas that are taboo to men. Men and women may have separate bathing areas at the local river or beach. Many of these taboos are being relaxed nowadays, and foreign visitors are not always expected to abide by the same standards as the locals. However, volunteers will earn the respect of local people by trying to adhere to customary rules, and restrictions concerning bathing areas should certainly be respected.
Women are expected to dress modestly in public, covering their shoulders and knees, although wearing shorts is OK when swimming or playing sports. Women should not bathe in Western swimming costumes (at least not in any spot where they are liable to be seen by men). Although few people will openly criticise volunteer girls for immodest dress, exposing too much skin will give a bad impression to local women and may give dangerous ideas to local men (as well as increasing the risk of insect bites and sunburn!).
Boy-girl 'friendships'
Platonic friendships between boys and girls do not exist in rural Vanuatu. Here, being "friends" with a person of the opposite sex implies a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. Ni-Vanuatu may be confused by the sight of male and female volunteers socialising together, and assume that what they are witnessing are either sexual relationships or family relations between 'brothers' and 'sisters' in the same clan. To make it clear to locals that you and another volunteer are "just friends", you should explain that "we just talk" or that "we act like a brother and sister".
Working relationships between male and female colleagues (or between teachers and students) are OK, provided that they do not become too close. Socialising between males and females is also fine amongst family members, including members of a volunteer's 'host family'. However, close friendships with people of the opposite sex under any other circumstances will certainly raise eyebrows and may have more serious consequences.
Volunteers who strike up seemingly-innocent friendships with locals of the opposite sex should be aware that their friend (and the rest of the community) may interpret their friendship as a prelude to sex (since local men and women would not make friends for any other reason). Volunteers who enter into boyfriend/girlfriend relationships with locals, meanwhile, are likely to cause a scandal, and may create false expectations that the relationship will lead to marriage. A girl who enters into a relationship with one local man may also tempt others to try their luck.
A boyfriend/girlfriend relationship between two foreign volunteers will probably be tolerated if it is conducted discreetly, but public displays of affection must be avoided. Homosexuality should also remain firmly in the closet whilst in Vanuatu.
People in Vanuatu who break taboos, including those surrounding boy/girl relationships, are traditionally required to participate in a ceremony in which they publicly repent and pay a fine to the local chief and (in some cases) to the person who was wronged. These fines are traditionally paid in pigs and ceremonial items such as red mats, but cash is usually acceptable as a substitute. Fines range from the equivalent of about $20 (or a single red mat) for very minor misdemeanours, to several hundred dollars (or several large, well-tusked pigs) for serious offences.
If a local man confesses to behaving inappropriately towards a volunteer girl, the chiefs are likely to ask him to perform a ceremony of this kind. On rare occasions, volunteers themselves have been required to perform these ceremonies after openly engaging in 'inappropriate' relationships. In others such cases guilty volunteers were let off with reprimands, because the community recognised that they did not understand local culture or were worried about possible repercussions from the volunteer's organisation.
Problems suffered by women
Vanuatu is a very male-dominated society: men in some areas were traditionally accused of valuing their pigs more than their wives! However, the situation is slowly improving, and visiting foreign women are treated with a lot more respect than Vanuatu's long-suffering housewives.
Young female schoolteachers, however, may find it difficult to win respect from older male students. (Male schoolteachers, for their part, may have to overcome severe shyness from older female students.) Expatriate women also complain that their opinions are not taken as seriously as those of their male colleagues.
Domestic violence remains common in Vanuatu, and although it happens strictly behind closed doors, many volunteers become upset by the stories of abuse that they hear from local women. Although there is little that volunteers can do individually to change the situation, some choose to become involved, together with local people, in organised programmes that seek to raise awareness of these issues.
Many young ni-Vanuatu men, lacking legitimate opportunities to meet women, resort to 'creeping': loitering hidden outside a girl's house at night in the pathetic hope that she will come outside to meet them. The men involved are not generally dangerous and may regard creeping as harmless fun, but it can be extremely frightening for the girl involved. Volunteers who are victims of creeping should stay indoors and try not to react, but report the matter to their school principal or local chiefs the next day.
In certain areas of Vanuatu, a significant proportion of female volunteers have suffered serious attempts at sexual assault. In some of these cases the foreign girls appear to have been specifically targeted; others were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Although the risk of sexual assault cannot be completely eliminated anywhere in the world, it can be minimised by following a few simple precautions (see below).
How female volunteers can avoid trouble
- Do not walk alone outside your school/village grounds, even during the daytime. Take a friend (or preferably a group of friends) with you, and do not allow yourselves to become separated on the road.
- Do not linger outdoors at night, even within your school/village grounds.
- Persuade your hosts to provide you with a house that is in the centre of the school/village grounds, close to your colleagues. Do not accept accommodation that is blatantly unsuitable, for example in a lonely spot on the edge of a village, or beside the boys' dormitories.
- Lock your doors and shut your windows properly at bedtime. If your house cannot be secured properly, insist that the school handyman fit better latches and locks.
- Dress modestly in public, including when swimming, to avoid sending inappropriate signals to local men.
- Ensure that friendships with male colleagues are kept professional. Do not visit them alone at night, for example, even if your intentions are innocent.
- Be wary of accepting invitations from local men, such as to go and visit their villages, even if the invitation seems innocuous.
- Consider getting a dog, or befriending a neighbour's dog, which will bark at approaching strangers. Many Vanuatu dogs get little attention from their owners and will be only too happy to spend time on the doorstep of a friendly volunteer.
- Seek advice and solidarity from local women. It's not just foreigners who suffer unwanted attention from creepy men.
- Ask colleagues and neighbours to keep an eye on your house at night if creeping is a problem. If creepers lurk in the bushes outside your house, ask for the bushes to be cut down.
- Report any problems immediately, and make it clear that you consider the matter serious.
What to do if an incident does occur
If the volunteer is based at a school, then any case of sexual harassment, however minor, should be reported immediately to the school principal, or to another senior colleague if the principal is away or is inept. If people from outside the school are involved, local chiefs should also be informed.
After a serious incident involving one of the villagers, the chiefs will probably call a meeting to try and find out who is responsible and decide what to do. Vanuatu's communities are small and close, with neighbours constantly watching one another, and often it will not take long to identify the man involved. Sometimes the culprit will be a known offender who has harassed women before. Given the closeness of island communities, do not be surprised if the culprit turns out to a relative of one of your friends or colleagues.
Even in cases where it is not possible to identify the person responsible (for example, when unseen creepers have been bothering a girl at night), the knowledge that the chiefs are on the case may be enough to ensure that the problem stops.
When the culprit has been identified, he may be asked to make a public apology and pay a fine (see above). Try not to be offended if the penalty seems lenient. Since there are no prisons on the outer islands (and pre-Christian means of punishment such as tying offenders to burning trees have now been eradicated!), fines are the only means that chiefs have of trying to redress wrongs. A fine that seems modest by Western standards may be a large sum to a local villager, and the public shame associated with being fined is part of the punishment.
In very serious cases, the police can be called, although since there are no proper police stations on most islands, you should not expect a quick and effective response. The police may also be reluctant to intervene in matters that are already being dealt with by local chiefs.
Volunteer organisations should also be notified of any incidents, since this may affect their allocation of future volunteers. If girls suffer repeated harassment at a particular site, for example, the organisation should be advised to send only male volunteers to that site in future, and to send female volunteers elsewhere.
Finally...
Please do not be unduly worried or alarmed by any of the information given above. Vanuatu is a wonderful country and most volunteers (even those who do suffer minor harassment) enjoy their placements there immensely.
Bear in mind that Vanuatu is diverse, and that the situation with regard to women's rights and safety differs from location to location. The above advice is aimed at volunteers in rural areas, and most of it does not apply in Port Vila and Luganville, whose inhabitants are far more Westernised. (This is not to say that Vanuatu's towns are completely safe - Luganville, in particular, is certainly not a place girls should wander alone at night - merely that the risks volunteers face in town are of a more familiar kind.)
Vanuatu communities are overwhelmingly friendly and hospitable, and volunteers should never be afraid to discuss problems with their friends and colleagues or to ask for help when it is needed. School principals and local chiefs are committed to ensuring volunteers' safety, both out of genuine concern for their visitors' welfare, and out of fear that future volunteers will be frightened away. The majority of ni-Vanuatu - men and women alike - are decent and caring people, who will go out of their way to make sure that you have a secure and enjoyable placement.
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