The woman in charge of the Solomon Islands Just Play sport for development program knows she is trying to change long-held beliefs with a message of equality but she sees glimpses of a great future, sometimes in the most unlikely places.

No man is more admired in the Solomon Islands than the one who gets to wear the green, gold and blue of the Bonitos to represent the Pacific nation at football.

That glory might seem a long way from the dusty playgrounds of Guadacanal and Isabel schools where the devoted Just Play sport for development team use football to forge a fairer future for the Solomons.

But the connection is strong.

Just Play Project Manager Maria Rarawa was recently approached at the Solomon Cup by a young man who had made the national team for the first time.

He remembered her from a time when she was just starting out in the job, and he was just a boy.

"He said to me; 'You know, it is because of 'Just Play' that I am where I am today - I have grown as a man, I have become more confident'," she recalls, proudly.

"He is shy but the few things he said made me so happy because through the program, if I can just change a handful of children, I feel I have done something for this nation."

A moment of great pride, but also a stark reminder of why her Australian aid-supported sport for development program, which reached 5,000 Solomon Islands children in 2017, matters so much.

A key focus of Just Play is gender equality and, ultimately, a reduction in gender violence.

Inclusion and respect for women and girls is woven into every football activity.

But this is no game.

The Solomon Islands has one of the highest rates of family and sexual violence in the world.

More than three in every five women have reported physical or sexual abuse by a partner and most believe only a small fraction of the violence ever makes it into official reports.

Maria is convinced the cultural tradition of "buying" a wife from her family, known as bride price, undermines equality.

"Bride price is still strong and I see this as a great contributing factor to domestic violence because if a man buys his wife, he can do anything to her," she says.

"Women are meant to be seen and not heard at all."

Maria is one woman who is being both seen and heard.

The mother of five, four of them daughters, tries to be a living example of the gender equality she wants for all.

"I try to protect my daughters as much as I can and I try to educate them that it is not right that a man should beat you up," she says, determination in her voice.

"Whatever I preach in Just Play is what I practice at home."

The challenges women face at home extend out into Solomons' society and onto the football field.

The Solomons' women's domestic league has faltered and the national team is suffering on the international stage as a result.

Perhaps one day, it won't only be the men who are celebrated as heroes when they represent the Solomons.

Perhaps one day, a national women's player will break away from the adoring fans to seek out Maria and thank her introducing her to the game and the concept of equality.

Perhaps on that day, Just Play's huge task will finally be complete.

Until then, it is back to the dusty playgrounds to fight for fairness.


This story was produced by ABC International Development as part of the Pacific Sports Partnerships funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

https://www.sportanddev.org/latest/media/shaping-solomons-footballs-fight-fairness

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