Women in the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea

There have been 10 women in the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea since the independence of Papua New Guinea in 1975.[1]

Name Period of service
Nahau Rooney 1977-1987
Waliyato Clowes 1977-1982
Dame Josephine Abaijah 1972-1982, 1997-2002
Dame Carol Kidu 1997-2012
Delilah Gore 2012-2017
Loujaya Kouza 2012-2017
Julie Soso 2012-2017
Rufina Peter 2022-
Kessy Sawang 2022-
Francesca Semoso 2023-

As of 1 February 2019, Papua New Guinea was one of only three countries in the world out of 235 that had no women in its legislative branch or parliament.[2] In the 2017 national election, 165 women ran for parliament out of a total of 3,000 candidates, or five percent. No women were elected, including the three female incumbents.[3] However, in the July 2022 national election, for 118 members of parliament, two were elected.[4] In October 2023, a further woman, Francesca Semoso, was elected to represent North Bougainville in a by-election.[5]

References

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  1. ^ "Papua New Guinea". Pacific Women in Politics. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  2. ^ "Women in Parliaments: World Classification".
  3. ^ Papua New Guinea’s Parliament Has No Women, https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/papua-new-guineas-parliament-has-no-women/
  4. ^ "PNG Election : Female Candidate Kessy Sawang wins Raikos Open Seat". Papua New Guinea today. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
  5. ^ Kora, Belinda (6 November 2023). "Francesca Semoso is the first woman from Bougainville to be elected to Papua New Guinea's parliament". ABC Pacific. Retrieved 21 January 2024.