Grace Mera Molisa (17 February 1946, Aoba Island – 4 January 2002,

Port Vila Port Vila (french: Port-Vila), or simply Vila (; french: Vila; bi, Vila ), is the capital and largest city of Vanuatu. It is located on the island of Efate. Its population in the last census (2009) was 44,040, an increase of 35% on the pr ...

) was a Ni-

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...

and campaigner for women's equality in politics. ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

'' described her as "a vanguard for

Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from Indonesia's New Guinea in the west to Fiji in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, V ...

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups ...

and a voice of the Vanuatuans, especially women"."Voice of Vanuatu's women"
, ''The Australian'', 1 February 2002 She has also been described as one of the Pacific's "leading public intellectuals and activists". Molisa's education began at her village school on Aoba Island, and continued at the Mission School at Torgil. From there, she went on to attend Queen Victoria Māori Girls' School in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

, Aotearoa New Zealand. After leaving school, Molisa attended Auckland Teachers' College and returned to her old school at Torgil as a teacher. She became the first Ni-Vanuatu woman to head a large, senior co-educational boarding school when she was appointed Headmistress of Ombabulu School. Later, Molisa was the first woman from her country to gain a university degree, a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree at the

University of the South Pacific The University of the South Pacific (USP) is a public research university with locations spread throughout a dozen countries in Oceania. Established in 1968, the university is organised as an intergovernmental organisation and is owned by the go ...

in 1977. Molisa was an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...

. She spoke five languages. A 2004 book entitled ''Profiles of Pacific Women'', aimed at "paying tribute to

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

women who have paved the way for

gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...

and

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

", included a tribute to Grace Molisa.

Political career

In 1979, in the lead-up to Vanuatu's independence, and as a member of the Vanua'aku Pati, Molisa became second secretary of the Ministry of Social Affairs. She created Vanuatu's National Arts Festival, and set up the committee which chose the nation's

flag A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...

anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short s ...

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

and national motto, "Long God Yumi Stanap". She was one of only two women members of the National Constitution Committee, and was a signatory of the Constitution of Vanuatu in 1979, along with her husband and fellow politician Sela Molisa. She was spokeswoman for Prime Minister

Walter Lini Walter Hadye Lin̄i (1942 – 21 February 1999) was a Raga Anglican priest and politician who was the first Prime Minister of Vanuatu, from independence in 1980 to 1991. He was born at Agatoa village, Pentecost Island. On his mother's side, ...

from 1987 to 1991. In the 1990s, she was appointed to the Council of the

, and became a member of

Transparency International Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil ...

. In 1997, she founded Vanuatu Women in Politics (VWIP), a pressure group to aid women who wished to enter politics. When the Vanua'aku Pati did not endorse a single female candidate for 1998 general election, Molisa left the party, and coordinated the candidacies of six women candidates under the VWIP banner. That same year, she published a booklet listing 530 ni-Vanuatu women qualified for public duties, as a means of pressuring the government into appointing qualified women to public office. She contributed a chapter on postcolonial politics to the scholarly compendium ''Remembrance of Pacific Pasts: An Invitation to Remake History'', edited by Robert Borofsky and published in 2000. Other contributors included

Albert Wendt Albert Tuaopepe Wendt (born 27 October 1939) is a Samoan poet and writer who lives in New Zealand. He is one of the most influential writers in Oceania. His notable works include ''Sons for the Return Home'', published in 1973 (adapted into a ...

, Vilsoni Hereniko,

Marshall Sahlins Marshall David Sahlins ( ; December 27, 1930April 5, 2021) was an American cultural anthropologist best known for his ethnographic work in the Pacific and for his contributions to anthropological theory. He was the Charles F. Grey Distinguishe ...

, James Belich,

Gyan Prakash Gyan Prakash is a historian of modern India and the Dayton-Stockton Professor of History at Princeton University. Prakash is a member of the Subaltern Studies collective. Prakash received his Bachelor of Arts degree in history from the Univer ...

Edward Said Edward Wadie Said (; , ; 1 November 1935 – 24 September 2003) was a Palestinian-American professor of literature at Columbia University, a public intellectual, and a founder of the academic field of postcolonial studies.Robert Young, ''Whit ...

and

Epeli Hauʻofa Epeli Hauʻofa (7 December 1939 – 11 January 2009)"Epeli Hau'Ofa"< ...

Literary career

Molisa published ''Blackstone'', a collection of her poems, in 1983. In 1987, she published ''Colonised People : Poems''. ''The Australian'' has described her poems as "a biting social commentary on life in patriarchal, post-colonial Vanuatu." In 1995, she published , written in

Bislama Bislama (; ; also known by its earlier French name, ) is an English-based creole language and one of the official languages of Vanuatu. It is the first language of many of the "Urban ni-Vanuatu" (citizens who live in Port Vila and Luganvil ...

. Selina Tusitala Marsh, former

New Zealand Poet Laureate The New Zealand Poet Laureate is a poet appointed by the National Library of New Zealand to represent New Zealand's community of poets, to promote and advocate for poetry, and to produce a number of published works during their two-year tenure as ...

and Professor of English at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

, has described her as one of the three "foremothers of Pasifika poetry", along with Konai Helu Thaman of

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

and Haunani-Kay Trask of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. Marsh's extensive research essay has been published in ''Cordite Poetry Review''. Poetry by Molisa was included in ''UPU,'' a curation of Pacific Island writers’ work which was first presented at the Silo Theatre as part of the Auckland Arts Festival in March 2020. ''UPU'' was remounted as part of the

Kia Mau Festival The Kia Mau Festival, previously called Ahi Kaa Festival, is a biennial performing arts festival in Wellington, New Zealand. In te reo Māori, kia mau is "a call to stay - an invitation to join us". The festival covers Māori, Pasifika and in ...

in Wellington in June 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Molisa, Grace Mera Vanuatuan women's rights activists Vanuatuan poets 1946 births 2002 deaths Vanuatuan Anglicans People from Penama Province Vanua'aku Pati politicians Vanuatuan women in politics University of the South Pacific alumni Vanuatuan women writers Women poets 20th-century women writers 20th-century poets 20th-century women politicians