The purpose of this thesis is to examine the effect that the Catholic Diocese of Aitape in the Sandaun Province of Papua New Guinea, and by implication, the Catholic Church, has had on the lives of women, as assessed by women of the Diocese themselves. Much research has been done into how women can be, and/or become, empowered through development project approaches and through the agency of development agencies and people. Many such projects have been relatively short lived and have also been sector specific. If such projects are seen to have an impact upon the lives of women, a long standing institution such as the Catholic Diocese of Aitape which has such a great influence on the lives of the people living within the Diocese could also be expected to have an impact upon the lives of women. Women reflecting upon their own lives and the lives of their mothers and grandmothers and what differences there are and how the Diocese/Church has contributed to these changes has provided the data for analysis within this thesis. Based upon the reflections of women, selected as being representative of the women of the Diocese, the Diocese and the Catholic Church have indeed contributed to a degree of empowerment for women that these women may not have otherwise achieved within contemporary Papua New Guinea society. The various teaching, policies and practices of the Diocese and the Church have enabled a greater freedom of association, movement and opportunity for women to individually and collectively become empowered to some degree. The patriarchal nature of the Church hierarchy and the interaction between the Church and the Diocese however remains a barrier to true gender equality across all aspects of the Diocese and Church. While this remains so, increasing localisation of the Church within Melanesian society may well mean that gains made by women through the agency of the Catholic Diocese of Aitape, need to be defended from erosion by a more Melanesian version of that same Diocese. [Appendix 4 : STK THR 262.3093 D718]