Jacinda Ardern keen to make a difference during Papua New Guinea stay

When Jacinda Ardern first visited Papua New Guinea, in 2013, she was not an international icon for feminism.

She was an Opposition MP on a parliamentary Pacific tour and she questioned whether having only two women MPs was enough. It was, she was told. They argue too much.

Time has changed that - there are now no women MPs out of 106.

It was big year in PNG, 2013. It was the year that the sorcery law was repealed, meaning belief that a woman is a witch is no longer a defence for murder, and it was the year PNG signed a deal with Australia to hold its asylum seekers on Manus Island.

Ardern is back again for the Apec summit and ahead of the leaders' retreat she will cut the proverbial ribbon on an NZ aid project that is intended to improve the lives of many women.

New Zealand has contributed $7 million to the upgrade of Gordon's Market, the biggest fresh produce market in PNG which was an unsavoury place for stall-holders, most of them women.

It was uncovered, unlit and unsafe and attacks were not uncommon.

Women are not safe in PNG. Violence against women is widespread - about two thirds of women have been subjected to domestic violence, according to a recent report commissioned by New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade on its aid to PNG.

Ardern is careful not to take a lecturing tone - given New Zealand's own record on domestic violence and sees it a problem that can be tackled together.

"We obviously in New Zealand have our own issues when it comes to domestic violence when it comes to gender equality," she told the Herald on Sunday "But I think that's where we can stand alongside the Pacific and say 'we've got work to do collectively.'

"PNG, in particular though, has staggering rates of violence against women and that's obviously known but an area where I think we can acknowledge we are working on and we should all be working on it."

The same report - by Adam Smith International - cited a UNDP study which found 62 per cent of males in PNG reported committing rape against a woman or girl during their lifetime.

It said gender inequality is such a significant issue in PNG that it should be the highest priority and mainstreamed across its entire PNG programme.

New Zealand committed $70 million in aid to PNG between 2015 and 2018.

That has risen to $112 million for the next three years under Budget increases secured by Foreign Minister Winston Peters.

Peters himself is no stranger to the issue of gender representation in Pacific Parliaments.

When he was Foreign Minister last time, in 2008, he questioned why there were so many "useless" men in power positions in the Pacific and not enough women.

"I don't seek to preach or hector them or lecture them," he said at the time. "All I seek to do is ask some pretty questions like how come all these useless males are running the show."

Women's representation is still important to Ardern five years on from her last visit to PNG: "If we are going to address issues like maternal mortality rates, domestic violence rates, then women need to be at the table, and I don't say that as a female politician from a particular country. I just say that as a woman."

• Ardern was the only woman MP on the Pacific Mission to PNG, Bougainville, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu. It was led by former Foreign Minister Murray McCully and included John Hayes, Phil Goff, Pita Sharples and Kennedy Graham.

• New Zealand's Parliament of 120 is 38.3 per cent per cent women and according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union is ranked 19th highest out of 190. PNG is 190th, equal with Vanuatu and Yemen.