A woman's leader in Papua New Guinea says gender equality won't improve in Pacific Island countries until more women are in power at a national level.
A major three yearly gathering of Pacific women leaders in the Cook islands has ended with a mixed report card and a list of the many challenges that remain in bringing gains for women in education, health, economic empowerment and the fight against gender-based violence.
Theresa Jaintong of PNG's National Council of Women says the genuine discussions taking place at a regional level are not having a big impact nationally and filtering down to the grassroots.
"It has to be measured somehow, whether we are making an impact or not especially at the national level. When I came back here for the second time I see we are talking about the same issues - gender based violence, economic empowerment and all this but the impact of this at the grassroots level is not there."
Theresa Jaintong who attended last week's 12th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women in the Cook Islands.