Delilah Gore
Delilah Pueka Gore (born 24 June 1962) is a Papua New Guinean politician.[1] She was a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea from 2012 to 2017, representing the electorate of Sohe Open. She was Minister for Higher Education, Science, Research and Technology and later Minister for Religion, Youth & Community Development in the government of Peter O'Neill.[2]
She was elected to the Sohe District, in the Northern Province, in the 2012 election.[3] She was one of only three women in the 2021-17 Parliament,[4] and had spoken out in the past about the need for a small number of reserved seats for women in parliament.[5] However, she rejected calls for affirmative action, and undid some of the pro-women reforms introduced by her predecessor, Dame Carol Kidu.[6]
In August 2015 she was suspended from Cabinet for three months without pay after verbally abusing and threatening a flight attendant who had asked her to turn off her mobile phone on an Air Niugini flight. (Gore was removed from the plane as a consequence of her behaviour.)[7]
She was defeated by Henry Amuli at the 2017 election. She had been the last of the three women MPs in the previous parliament to remain in serious contention; her defeat marked the first time since 1997 that no women sat in the parliament.[8]
References
- ^ "Nominations By Electorate" (PDF). PNG Electoral Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 July 2017. Retrieved 15 June 2017.
- ^ Kafcaloudes, Phil (3 March 2014). "Delilah Gore appointment paves way for more PNG women in politics". ABC Radio Australia. ABC Online. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
A minor cabinet reshuffle by PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill has led to the appointment of Delilah Gore as the Minister for Higher Education.
- ^ Raphael, Elliot & Barthy Ewada (22 July 2012). "Delilah Gore becomes first woman in new PNG Parliament". Pacific Women in Politics. UNDP Pacific Centre. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
- ^ Fox, Liam (9 May 2013). "Gillard trip excites PNG women". ABC Radio Australia. ABC Online. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
Delilah Gore is one of the three women in PNG's 111-seat Parliament.
- ^ "Women MP prefers four seats". www.pina.com.fj. Pacific Island News Association. 27 November 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
"I don't support the 22 reserved seats for women because this would only contradict how I came into parliament. But I would like to see women given autonomy through these four reserved seats – to be the voice for women in each of their regions," Gore said.
- ^ Pauline Soaki (2017). "Casting her vote: Women's political participation in Solomon Islands". In Martha Macintyre; Caridwen Spark (eds.). Transformations of Gender in Melanesia. ANU Press. p. 98.
- ^ "Flight stoush sees PNG minister grounded", Radio New Zealand, 11 August 2015
- ^ "No women MPs to sit in PNG's new parliament". SBS. 5 August 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2017.