Many rural areas in the country are faced with gender based violence breaking down the family unit.
PNG Council of Women Momase region representative Miong Kila says women in a lot of villages she has visited have been greatly affected by domestic violence.
She said the reality is common where women in the villages are abused and bashed up by their husbands.
Kila has done awareness in the Morobe Province and says more awareness needs to be done to educate men on gender equality.
“The most affected are children who grow up in this type of environment and this is very unhealthy."
“When the family falls apart, children grow up and turn to drugs and criminal activities to survive when there is no one to mentor them."
“We are losing our cultural values of respecting women and this needs to be taught to the young generation,” she says.
Kila provides counseling to youths in the villages.
She is calling on the government to make funding available through the provincial community development office to carry out awareness programs in the villages.