We Only Get The Daylight Hours - Gender, Fear and Freedom in Urban Papua New Guinea

Traditional discussions of security are state-centric and ignore individual experience. Presenting a counter-perspective, this article extends existing literature about violence and insecurity by representing the perspectives of those for whom security is a daily concern: young educated Papua New Guinean women living in Papua New Guinea’s towns and cities. Drawing on thirty interviews conducted between 2007 and 2013, I explore how young women in Port Moresby and Goroka talk about violence and insecurity. The article highlights the frustration they experience because of their limited mobility and the ways they are forced to manage their sense of security in these contexts.