Governor for National Capital District and Chairman, Permanent Parliamentary Committee on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, Powes Parkop, presented his speech in Parliament to addressing the status of women and girls in our country. Governor Parkop told Parliament that this is a critical discussion on the actions they must take to elevate their status and achieve true equality. “We must particularly focus on the urgent need to combat gender-based violence, a pervasive issue that continues to impede the progress of women and girls across Papua New Guinea. Women and girls constitute 50 percent of our population. This debate and conversation therefore concern the well-being, hopes, dreams, rights, and the potential of half of our people. We are at a pivotal time where there is an urgency to take real concrete action to reduce gender-based violence in our country, Papua New Guinea and to strive for genuine gender equality, in line with the promises enshrined in our National Constitution and the numerous international conventions we have ratified. This is a pressing issue that should weigh heavily on our collective consciousness. As we begin our debate, let us take a moment to acknowledge and recognize the powerful contributions of women to our society. Since time immemorial, women have been the backbone of our families and communities. They are nurturers, educators, leaders, and innovators. Women have been wealth creators—raising livestock, growing crops, fishing, and sustaining our families. They play a pivotal role in preserving our cultures, driving our economies, and strengthening the social fabric of our nation. Despite these invaluable contributions, the status of women and girls in our country remains alarmingly poor. Today, despite all our efforts and investments, women and girls continue to be marginalized, subjected to fear, intimidation, and violence on a daily basis. We need not look further than this National Parliament and our capital city to see the reality of the status of women in our country. We have only three women Members of Parliament, one of whom was appointed Assistant Speaker last week. This is a credit to these three colleagues of ours, but their success is an exception. Not the norm. This has been the story of our Parliament since September 16th, 1975—never more than three women Members of Parliament at any given time. What we observe in Parliament is mirrored everywhere else,” Mr. Parkop said. He said our nation is poorer and hindered from realizing its full potential due to this inequality and our failure, as leaders and as a nation, to take concrete, tangible steps to remove the barriers that prevent women and girls from reaching their full potential and contributing equally to the development and progress of our nation.