Josephine Abaijah

Who is Josephine Abaijah?

Dame Josephine Abaijah, GCL, DBE was the first woman to be elected to the Papua New Guinea House of Assembly, in 1972. She was the only woman elected at that time.

She was re-elected in 1977, and stood unsuccessfully for a third term in 1982. After fifteen years out of Parliament, she was elected once more in 1997.

She founded and led the Papua Besena movement, which agitated unsuccessfully for Papua to become a completely independent country on its own instead of being linked with New Guinea as Papua New Guinea. She expressed support for Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka's military coup in Fiji in 1987.

Asked by the Pacific Journalism Review for her opinion as to why there were no women in Papua New Guinea's Parliament, she stated:

"I maintain that I will not give money to somebody to vote for me. So I think that's one big reason. The men can get money, the men can bribe. We are finding it very difficult for women to go around bribing people. I think this is where the country is going nowhere because here there is a lot of bribes, there is a lot of corruption, something that women don't want in this country."

Regarding the condition of women, she told the Review: