Rethinking women’s political participation: A case study of Panguna, Central Bougainville

Women’s political participation and representation in the Pacific remain among the lowest in the world and continue to generate significant debate. Papua New Guinea in Melanesia ranks 179th of 181 countries in the Inter-Parliamentary Union rankings, with only three women serving in its national parliament. Existing research identifies a range of barriers to women’s representation, frequently treating cultural perceptions of women’s roles as a key impediment. Yet, explanation has not been adequately interrogated. Efforts to address women’s underrepresentation have also tended to privilege experiences of elite women, including elected representatives and candidates. This focus obscures the diverse ways ordinary or non-elite women participate beyond the electoral processes. A related conceptual problem arises from the tendency to conflate political participation with political representation, limiting recognition of the forms political agency takes outside formal state institutions.

This research addresses these gaps by recognising the kastom political structures of patrilineal and matrilineal societies in Papua New Guinea and Bougainville as legitimate political systems operating alongside the formal nation-state. It shifts the analytical focus from elite women’s participation in electoral politics to ways ordinary or non-elite women exercise agency within kastom and move between kastom and formal political structures. Drawing on the Melanesian research methodology of tok stori and observations, fieldwork centered on Panguna, Central Bougainville. The study offers three key findings. First, kastom constitutes a legitimate political system in Papua New Guinea and Bougainville in which community members actively participate. Secondly, women exercise agency within kastom and navigate both customary and formal political structures. Third, political participation extends beyond campaigning and voting to practices embedded in customary political systems. By expanding what counts as political participation, this thesis contributes to scholarship on women and politics in the Pacific and Melanesia, and offers government and international actors more grounded basis for policies and programs to address gender inequality in formal political representation.