Hilda Kari

Hilda Thugea Kari (born Hilda Thugea Auvi in 1949[2]) is a Solomon Islands politician.

The Right Honourable

Hilda Kari

MP
Minister of Forests, Conservation and the Environment
In office
August 1997 – June 2000
Prime MinisterBartholomew Ulufa'alu
Minister for Women, Youth and Sports
In office
June or July 2000 – December 2001
Prime MinisterManasseh Sogavare
Member of Parliament
for North East Guadalcanal
In office
1989–1993
Preceded byWaita Ben Tabusasi
Succeeded byBaddley Devesi
Member of Parliament
for East Central Guadalcanal
In office
1993–2001
Preceded byConstituency established
Succeeded byNollen Cornelius Leni
Personal details
Political partyOUR Party[1]

Educated in Australia, she is a senior health administrator, and President of the National Council of Women, an organisation dedicated to encouraging and facilitating women's participation in politics.[3][4]

She was the first woman to be elected to the National Parliament of Solomon Islands,[3][5] although Lilly Ogatina was indirectly elected to the Legislative Council in 1965.

She successfully contested the 1989 by-election for the North East Guadalcanal seat caused by MP Waita Ben Tabusasi vacating his seat to become Speaker. She was re-elected, as MP for East Central Guadalcanal, in the 1993 general election, and again in 1997, thus serving until 2001.[5][6][7][8]

She was Minister for Forestry, the Environment and Conservation from 1997 to 2000, under Prime Minister Bartholomew Ulufa'alu; she was the first woman in Cabinet in the country's history. Ulufa'alu resigned in June 2000 after being kidnapped by the Malaita Eagle Force in a context of rising ethnic tensions. Kari then served as Minister for Youth, Women and Sport under his successor Manasseh Sogavare, from 2000 to 2001. She is also recorded as having been briefly Minister for Lands and Housing in 2000, although it is not known whether this was under Ulufa'alu or Sogavare.[2]

She stood unsuccessfully in the 2010 general election for the seat of North East Guadalcanal. Reacting to the fact that no women had been elected, she described the overall result as "a real slap on the face for women in this country", and was particularly critical of women voters who, in her view, displayed a lack of "trust" in women candidates.[9][10]

See also
  • Vika Lusibaea, second woman elected to the Parliament of Solomon Islands (in 2012)

References
  1. "Disappointment at low numbers of women contesting Solomons' election". Radio New Zealand International. 21 July 2010. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  2. "Solomon Islands", Women in Leadership
  3. New politics in the South Pacific, 1994, p.205
  4. "Solomons women want reserved seats in parliament", ABC Radio Australia, 4 November 2008
  5. “Women Candidates Training Workshop 2010”, Centre for Democratic Institutions
  6. "Members of the Fourth Parliament", National Parliament of Solomon Islands
  7. "Members of the Fifth Parliament", National Parliament of Solomon Islands
  8. "Members of the Sixth Parliament", National Parliament of Solomon Islands
  9. "Candidates seek better use of Solomons' rural funds", Australia Network News, 26 March 2010
  10. "Make-up of the 9th Parliament", Hilda Kari, Solomon Star, 26 August 2010


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