The outgoing British High Commissioner to Samoa says more work needs to be done to change attitudes torwards domestic violence.
Vicki Treadell, who is based in Wellington, is moving on from her role in July and recently made a visit to Apia.
She says she was shocked to hear statistics from United Nations research that 50 percent of teenage boys and 58 percent of adolescent girls in Samoa thought domestic violence was normal.
"Because of course it is not acceptable. And in changing attitudes to realise that actually this should not happen. It is actually illegal. It is against the woman's human rights and that you have to change attitudes in society as part of the cure and the work that needs to be done."
Vicki Treadell says a quota to see more women in parliament in 2016 in Samoa is a significant step towards gender equality.
