A survey has found the proportion of women working in Papua New Guinea's education sector has increased dramatically in the past decade.
A decade ago only one-quarter of PNG's primary school teachers were women but that has increased to 50 percent.
The findings are part of a report undertaken by Australian National University and PNG's National Research Institute.
The director of the university's Development Policy Centre, Stephen Howes, says the survey also found the number of girls attending primary school has sharply increased.
"PNG hasn't reached gender equity at primary school yet but it has got very close. It has got from 30 percent of girls to 46 percent girls. So I don't want to underestimate the problem but I just want to say it is not all bad news and there are some positive trends."
Stephen Howes says while PNG is still a patriarchal society, the survey indicates promising social change.
The report compares a 2012 survey of 360 primary schools and health clinics across eight provinces in PNG with data from 2002.
