"Fiin Chuuk" - Chuukese Woman

In addition to my teaching job at St. Cecilia, this year I have also been fortunate to work with the Chuuk Women’s Council. The CWC is an umbrella organization of all of the women’s groups in the state of Chuuk. It has about 400 members and seeks to promote female leadership, organize and mobilize women on health issues, environmentalism, and small business endeavors. I was introduced to Kiki, the president of the organization, in the beginning of this school year and ever since I have been coming back to meet with the women, learn about what they are doing, and help out any way that I can. This usually takes the form of writing grant proposals, which I have absolutely no experience in. It has been a learn-by-doing process for sure. Even through I do the physical typing for our proposals, all the ideas and projects come from the women. Usually my meetings with Kiki involve me sitting at a computer and her dictating her ideas while looking over my shoulder and correcting my spelling. This work has finally been the partnership with the local community that I was hoping for in coming to Micronesia. Using something that I know how to do- speak English and use a computer- to provide some sort of conduit for the women I work with to put into practice their own ideas and agendas. It provides a welcome break from teaching, where I am always asked to be in a leadership position, enforcing the type of education I received as an American, which does not always match up here. Working with the Women’s Council I can be a partner, not strictly a leader.

Kiki is exceptionally motivated and has great ideas that will assist the development of Chuuk, especially with regard to the role of women. Through our work, Kiki and I have developed what has become a very important relationship for me. She relates to me in a mothering way. Her own three children are around my age. She makes sure I eat and always drives me home without my having to ask for a ride. Over meals we talk about her own life growing up in Chuuk. Her mother, who just passed away this January, was a nurse and also the founder of the CWC. When my mother and brother arrived last month to visit me, she and her husband invited us all out for a meal with them.

Our most recent project proposal has been the most exciting and stimulating for me thus far. We are currently creating a project that will confront gender-based violence in the forms of domestic and sexual violence on Weno. These forms of violence are believed to be pervasive throughout the state of Chuuk. Part of the project will include administering a survey to families regarding their experience of violence, so that we might have more concrete evidence. I have been meeting with the leaders of the CWC this week to discuss our course of action; listening to their discussions fascinates me.

This past Monday night I found myself in the midst of a lively conversation with the four leaders of the CWC, regarding the violence that disproportionately affects women here, and what the Women’s Council can do to confront the issue. At one point as they are all talking and interrupting one another, I behind my computer recording, Kiki stops the conversation and looks at me and says, “Cait-leen, what is domestic violence?” To me this demonstrated exactly what the project now seeks to deal with- a lack of a social definition of what constitutes domestic violence and sexual assault. The women’s council members know that there is violence in the homes of many, some even say most here. What to call this violence, how to challenge it, and recognizing it as an infringement of human rights is what we are now working on.

Here is what I have learned after doing some research and participating in meetings on this topic. One research organization in one study reports that at least half of Micronesian women are hit buy there husbands. When talking to a priest who has been living and working in Micronesia for decades, he informed me that he has witnessed a number of brutal killings of wives by their husbands over the past years. Legally, sexual assault and physical assault are condoned between husband and wife. The actual wording of the law defines assault as occurring between non-married persons. Raping your wife is not a crime. Age of consent for sexual activity in Chuuk state is 13 years old. This, for example, makes it within the law for a 40 year old to have sexual relations with a 14 year old child.

In this project the women hope to primarily focus on education, to inform the public on what constitutes sexual harassment and other acts within the spectrum of abuse. No health curriculum exists in the majority of the schools and many consider sex completely taboo to speak about in public, especially in front of both boys and girls together. Therefore we see the education aspect as essential. Simultaneously the women’s council hopes to train its own members to act as advocates for women who have experienced violence and support them in seeking medical treatment and going through the legal process. The project also intends on creating new legislation to strengthen current law regarding sexual and domestic violence.

This plan exists now as just a proposal to the UN in hopes that they fund it. My role requires synthesizing all of the information we have gathered and the plans of the council into a succinct proposal. Sitting in these meetings I have realized that this is where I want to be, and these are the issues I want to focus on. I feel grateful to have the opportunity to put to use skills of my own, to work in partnership, and to confront discrimination against women.