Ali'imalemanu Alofa Tuuau

Ali'imalemanu Alofa Tuuau is a Samoan politician. She has been a member of the Legislative Assembly of Samoa since March 2016, representing the constituency of Alataua West.[1][2] She is a member of the Human Rights Protection Party.[3]

Ali'imalemanu was an accountant before entering politics. She had worked as chief accountant for the Samoa Public Trust Office for thirteen years, as a finance manager for the University of the South Pacific in Fiji for thirteen years, and then as finance manager for the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) in Samoa, where she had worked for fourteen years.[4] She is the Chair of Parliamentary Committee for Finance and Expenditure.[1] She lives in Apia, but regularly returns to her village on the island of Savai'i.[5]

Ali'imalemanu has said of women's empowerment: "I don’t believe in this saying, 'promoting equal rights', because there are equal rights of women everywhere but it’s just that they are not using it" and suggested "we are the problem because we put ourselves down. When I was growing up until I started working, I never struggled because of the non-equal rights...It is us. We don’t use it and we have no self-confidence, but it is an issue that we can deal with because it’s easy."[4] In parliament, she criticised the language a proposed constitutional amendment that would officially define Samoa as a Christian state on the basis that it was "insufficient, as it apparently lacks real power to limit the spread of potentially fanatical denominations within the country".[6]

References
  1. "Hon. Aliimalemanu Alofa Tuuau". Pacific Women in Politics. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  2. "INDEPENDENT STATE OF SAMOA PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS OF 4 MARCH 2016". Psephos. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  3. "Delegate bios". Pacific Parliamentary Forum 2016. Parliament of New Zealand. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  4. "'Equal rights but we're not using it,' says new Samoan woman MP". Asia Pacific Report. 8 March 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  5. "WOMEN AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION: THE 2016 ELECTION IN SAMOA" (PDF). Centre for Samoan Studies, National University of Samoa. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  6. "Why Samoa Wants to Make Clear, It's a Christian State". CBN News. 1 February 2017. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
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