The Fifth Pacific Regional Meeting on Violence Against Women also outlined some of the challenges they faced in their work.

Participants from the Solomon Islands raised concern about the narrowness of criminal laws to cater for specific forms of violence against women and girls, apart from assault.

    The Kiribati participant, Maere Tekanene, described the challenge of convincing male leaders of the reliability of alarming statistics on violence against women gleaned from a national survey.

    Apart from male attitudes, some women also accepted violence perpetrated against them, blaming themselves for being beaten.

    However, with all the depressing challenges, there have been some achievements in moving towards a violence-free Pacific in the four years since the last Pacific Regional Meeting on Violence Against Women.

    Vanuatu has made major headway with a Family Protection Act, the redefinition of rape to include rape with objects, and the amendment of the Penal Code to include child pornography.

 http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-06/09/content_11513812.htm

A 16-YEAR-OLD girl is in shock after she was punched and beaten with a stick by her village headman for wearing a singlet and three-quarter pants.

But police in the Northern Division yesterday backed the girl's right not be assaulted over the clothes she wore.

Mr Tagiwavoli admitted to the Fiji Times he beat the girl, saying she had broken the village dress code for females and had "talked back" at him.

"I also did that to teach her a lesson because, as daughter of the turaga ni Yavusa of Naqai, who is my elder brother, she couldn't be breaking the law while other girls were abiding by it," Mr Tagiwavoli said.

"I can't believe I was beaten up over what I was wearing," she said. "He slapped me and punched me in the back before hitting me with a stick.

"Times have changed and they are trying to enforce the traditional way of dressing which is hard for the young generation to accept."

http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=137446

New Zealand speed skater Blake Skjellerup, who competed at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, has come out in an interview with Australian magazine DNA.

“'We are not yet at the point in society where being gay sportsperson is not a big deal. If I was asked during any of my twenty-something interviews at the Olympics whether I had a boyfriend or a girlfriend — in the same sentence — I would have replied honestly, but I may have replied hesitantly,’” Skjellerup told DNA.

Skjellerup does not name his boyfriend, who is also a competitive athlete.

Se Blake avesse una fidanzata, ovviamente la potrebbe presentare senza neanche pensarci un attimo. Quindi prima di parlare di "sbandierare" la propria vita privata, magari sarebbe opportuno riflettere che ci sono due pesi e due misure. Una regola vale per gli eterosessuali che sbandierano quotidianamente la vita privata e l'altra per coloro che sono gay che invece fanno prova di grande coraggio ogni volta che escono allo scoperto. Inoltre la figura di un atleta olimpionico apertamente gay smentisce i peggiori stereotipi meglio di tanti discorsi.

Here is the link to the coming out story

Auckland's first female dean was a lawyer before she became a priest.

Mrs Kelly-Moore was appointed to the role after the former dean, Ross Bay, was elected bishop.

She will leave her role of the past six years - vicar of St Aidan's Church in Remuera - in August.

Asked whether she would have a different leadership style because she is a woman, Mrs Kelly-Moore said: "I think I bring the gift and vision of a priest, like all my colleagues.

"It is a privilege to be the first woman Dean of Auckland, but as an individual and probably growing up in the era that I have, I tend to find my vocation as a human being doing what I'm called to do rather than focusing on being a woman as such."

A growing number of ordained women are in paid roles within the church, and about 40 per cent of the paid positions are filled by women.

 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/religion-and-beliefs/news/article.cfm?c_id=301&objectid=10648529