Sistas, Let's Talk

This week's episode of Sistas, Let's Talk is a repeat of the show broadcast on 6th June 2024 Child protection workers in the Pacific are seeing increased reports of child abuse including sexual abuse. According to a recent study by Save the Children, more than, 80% of the child protection workers who were surveyed in Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Fiji said emotional, physical and sexual violence had increased or significantly increased in their country. When it comes to sexual violence in the Pacific, the majority of reported victims under 16 are girls, and the perpetrator is someone they know. When atrocities happen too often in a community, people don't feel that they have the power to stop them. Sistas Let's Talk examines what it will take for communities to work together to bring an end to child abuse?

PNG Women's Doctor, Lynda Sirigoi, comes across a common problem – many of her patients simply don't know about their own female anatomy and how it works. In the Pacific, these open discussions can be hampered by taboo or religion. But without them, women and girls can face anything from being unprepared for their first period, to making uninformed decisions when it comes to health and reproductive choices...Not to mention disempowerment. So, how do we start these sacred conversations? And who do we start them with?

This week's episode of Sistas, Let's Talk is a repeat of the show broadcast on 11th April 2024 More than ninety-five per cent of the popular music made in the last decade was produced by men. That's according to a 2022 study from the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative in the United States. So where are all of the talented women in the music industry? What does it take to break through and gain recognition, not to mention earn a living as a woman in the music industry? Especially in the Pacific where it's already so hard to gain global recognition. Sistas Let's Talk examines the ways that the gender imbalance in the music industry is being addressed.

This week's episode of Sistas, Let's Talk is a repeat of the show broadcast on 8th June 2023 It's easier than ever to test for the virus that causes cervical cancer and more screening programs means fewer women will die from this preventable cancer.

This week's episode of Sistas, Let's Talk is a repeat of the show broadcast on 25th April 2024 All over the world, dating apps have changed the way people get together, but is that happening in the Pacific? Or are there just too many logistical and cultural barriers for online dating to take hold in the region? When Natasha Yalo, a woman from Papua New Guinea living in Cairns, went looking for love on a dating app she found it hard to meet men from her culture. So she decided to try creating her own app especially for people from PNG.

This week's episode of Sistas, Let's Talk is a repeat of the show broadcast on 1st March 2023 The best chance of survival from breast cancer is with early diagnosis, so you can receive life-saving treatment, but this doesn't happen for many Pacific women.

When the Bougainville conflict erupted in 1988, Rose Pihei was living away from her village on the south of the island. After the crisis – which led to killed 20000 people and saw many more displaced – Rose saw the crucial role women played in rebuilding their communities. Inspired to create lasting change, she co-founded the Bougainville Women's Federation, empowering women and fostering peace in the region. Rose speaks to Natasha Meten on Sistas Let's Talk about the future for women in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. This edition of Sistas, Let's Talk was a repeat of the program broadcast on 13th June 2024

Women-led tourism operators in the Pacific show how small-scale community-based tourism is possible, even with the most modest of beginnings.

Having time off after giving birth not only gives new mums time to physically recover and bond with their baby, but it has significant health, economic and community impacts.

From Miss Papua New Guinea to corporate highflyer, Lisa Linibi says success has only been possible through her parents’ support.

Sistas, Let’s Talk is a show for women across the Pacific region.

In December last year, Vanuatu went to the International Court of Justice, which heard a case about climate change for the first time. Meet two of the women who were part of this.

Sistas, Let’s Talk is a show for women across the Pacific region.

Sistas, Let’s Talk is a show for women across the Pacific region.

Family is so important to across the Pacific, and while many traditions are similar like the feasts, and the singing and dancing, every family has its own special things to look forward to at Christmas. In the last episode for 2024, Sistas, Let's Talk celebrates family gatherings with Seiuli Salamasina von Reiche who is going home to Samoa for the festive season and Aggie Tupou who will celebrate in Australia, a long way from her extended family.

For proud Samoan Fa'afafine and trans woman of colour, Amao Leota Lu, Islander food and church hymns kept her connected to her Samoan heritage whilst growing up in Australia. And then there's the heart bells that rang when Amao journeyed back to Samoa after many years away; where seeing her beloved Fa'afafine community proudly represented on billboards and in influential roles across society couldn't stop her from smiling. Sistas Let's Talk discusses connection — but also isolation, when living in a Pacific diaspora.

For arts scholar and curator, Aunty Sana Reana Balai, living as part of the Pacific Island diaspora in Australia offered her new opportunities – and challenges. Carving out a new life abroad where she rarely saw other Pacific Islanders, Aunty shares stories on how she kept herself grounded and connected to culture, whilst removed from her beloved homeland of Buka Island, in Bougainville. And how her yearning to see other Black people led her to an Olympic legend.

Matilda Sweman thinks deeply about education. Particularly for girls in Papua New Guinea. That's because she went to school just after her country gained independence, at a time when very few girls were being educated. She went on to become a primary school teacher in the East Sepik region for almost two decades, and now she's an author and a lecturer in teaching at the Papua New Guinea Education Institute. On Sistas Let's Talk, Natasha Meten speaks to Matilda Sweman about educating girls, working with limited resources and thanking her father for sending her to school.

For many girls in the Pacific, talking about menstruation, sex and childbirth is so taboo that their mothers are not the ones to explain it to them. But understanding sex is vital for so many reasons. If you don't know about sex, you can't know about sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies. So how can we encourage people to have more open conversations about sex? This week on Sistas Let's Talk, Natasha Meten speaks to Rachael Tommbe from the Meri Lida Project, a program that trains women in peri-urban communities to talk about sexual reproductive health, so that they can share this vital information with their peers in rural villages. She also speaks to Youth Nursing Officer Primrose Famane about why women should seek help if they experience painful sex.

The Pacific region, has some of the highest rates of gender-based abuse in the world. Far too many women suffer physical and sexual violence at the hands of a family member or a former spouse. But domestic abuse is not just physical. It can come in the form of emotional abuse — like controlling behaviour, isolation, and insults intended to damage a woman's state of mind. This week on Sistas Let's Talk, Natasha Meten speaks to survivor and advocate Alicia Sahib, human rights defender Anne Pakoa and Renata Nataf from the Bible Society of the South Pacific.