Born: 17 February 1946, Vanuatu
Died: 4 January 2002
Country most active: Vanuatu
Also known as: NA
Ni-Vanuatu politician and poet Grace Mera Molisa was known for her work advocating for women’s equality in politics, founding Vanuatu Women in Politics (VWIP) in 1997. She was described as one of the “leading public intellectuals and activists” in the Pacific and spoke five languages.
In her early career as a teacher, she is believed to have been the first Ni-Vanuatu woman to head a large, senior co-educational boarding school when she was appointed headmistress of Ombabulu School, as well as the first woman from Vanuatu to complete a university degree, a Bachelor of Arts from the University of the South Pacific in 1977.
Shortly before the Republic of Vanuatu was established in 1980, Molisa was made the second secretary of the Ministry of Social Affairs in 1979. She established the country’s National Arts Festival, and the committee that chose the national flag, anthem, coat of arms and motto. One of only two women on the National Constitution Committee, she was a signatory on the 1979 Constitution of Vanuatu, as was her husband and fellow politician Sela Molisa.
After founding VWIP in 1997 to support women who wanted to enter politics, Molisa left her own party, Vanua’aku Pati, the following year when it failed to endorse a single female candidate in the 1998 election. Instead, she organized the candidacies of six women candidates under VWIP. Also that year, she published a list of 530 women qualified for public office to pressure the government to appoint such women.
As a poet, her published work includes two books: Blackstone (1983) and Colonised People: Poems (1987).