Dr. Alice Aruhe'eta Pollard | |
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| Nationality | Solomon Islands |
| Alma mater | University of the South Pacific, Victoria University of Wellington, Victoria University of Technology |
| Awards | International Women of Courage Award (2016 Solomon Islands nominee) |
Dr. Alice Aruhe'eta Pollard is a women's rights and peace advocate from the Solomon Islands.
Growing up in Malaita, she attended the Su’u Secondary School. She received a teaching diploma from the University of the South Pacific in 1982. Between 1994 and 1997 she received a BA in Community Development and MA in Women's Studies, both from the Victoria University of Technology. [1] [2]
In 2006 she became the second women from the Solomon Islands to have been awarded a PhD, receiving her doctorate from the Victoria University of Wellington, with a thesis titled Painaha: Gender and Leadership in 'Are'Are Society, the South Sea Evangelical Church and Parliamentary Leadership-Solomon Islands. [3] [1] Her doctoral advisors were Teresia Teaiwa, Prue Hyman and Kay Morris Matthews. [4]
In the 1980s, Pollard began working for the government of Solomon Islands, becoming Head of the Women's Division in 1988. After leaving the government to complete her university studies, she returned and worked in the Women's Division between 1997 and 1999, including as Director of the Ministry of Women, Children and Family Affairs. [2] [5] [6]
Pollard was a founding member of the Women for Peace group in the Solomon Islands group and during civil conflict played an active role in the peace movement. [2] [6] [7]
An advocate for gender issues and community development, she has developed several community initiates including establishing a group for rural women in South Malaita. [5] In 1999 she co-founded the West 'Are’are Rokotanikeni Association, also known as the Rokotanikeni Savings Group, a rural-based women's organization that promotes rural economic empowerment and supports savings and loans clubs. As of July 2013, thirteen clubs had been created, with around 3500 members and savings of just under SBD 3 million. [6] [8]
Pollard has held several advisory positions. From 2008 to 2010 she served as the Coordinator of Women in Government Strategic Programme, from 2009 to 2011 she was the Chairperson of the Solomon Islands College of Higher Education Council, and has been chair of the University of the South Pacific Solomon Islands Campus Advisory Committee. [6] She has also been a member of the National Financial Inclusion Taskforce (NFIT) under the Central Bank of Solomon Islands. [8]
In 2010 she became the president of the Solomon Islands Democratic Party, [9] she is currently the chair of the party and Director of its leadership development program. [6]
Pollard is the author of Givers of Wisdom, Labourers Without Gain: Essays on Women in Solomon Islands [10] and co-editor (with Marilyn Waring) of Being the First: Storis Blong Oloketa Mere Lo Solomon Aelan. [11] With a focus on social justice, she has also contributed to research and academic journals, including papers in Oceania. [6] [12]
She was the Solomon Islands nominee for the 2016 United States Secretary of State's International Women of Courage Award. [5]
Malaita is the primary island of Malaita Province in Solomon Islands. Malaita is the most populous island of the Solomon Islands, with a population of 161,832 as of 2021, or more than a third of the entire national population. It is also the second largest island in the country by area, after Guadalcanal.
The South Sea Evangelical Church (SSEC) is an evangelical, Pentecostal church in Solomon Islands. In total, 17% of the population of Solomon Islands adheres to the church, making it the third most common religious affiliation in the country behind the Anglican Church of Melanesia and the Roman Catholic Church. The SSEC is particularly popular on Malaita, the most populous island, where 47% of its members live; there are also smaller populations in Honiara and elsewhere on Guadalcanal, on Makira, and in other provinces.
The Solomon Islands Christian Association (SICA) is an ecumenical Christian non-governmental organisation in the Solomon Islands. The association comprises the five largest Christian churches in the country, the Anglican Church of Melanesia, the Roman Catholic Church, the South Seas Evangelical Church, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and the United Church.
Peter Ambuofa was an early convert to Christianity among Solomon Islanders who established a Christian community on Malaita, and a key figure in the history of the South Seas Evangelical Mission.
Florence Selina Harriet Young was an New Zealand-born missionary who established the Queensland Kanaka Mission in order to convert Kanaka labourers in Queensland, Australia. In addition, she conducted missionary work in China and the Solomon Islands.
Lydia Joyce Wevers was a New Zealand literary historian, literary critic, editor, and book reviewer. She was an academic at Victoria University of Wellington for many years, including acting as director of the Stout Research Centre for New Zealand Studies from 2001 to 2017. Her academic research focussed on New Zealand literature and print culture, as well as Australian literature. She wrote three books, Country of Writing: Travel Writing About New Zealand 1809–1900 (2002), On Reading (2004) and Reading on the Farm: Victorian Fiction and the Colonial World (2010), and edited a number of anthologies.
Teresia Teaiwa was a distinguished award winning I-Kiribati and African-American scholar, poet, activist and mentor. Teaiwa was well-regarded for her ground-breaking work in Pacific Studies. Her research interests in this area embraced her artistic and political nature, and included contemporary issues in Fiji, feminism and women's activism in the Pacific, contemporary Pacific culture and arts, and pedagogy in Pacific Studies. An "anti-nuclear activist, defender of West Papuan independence, and a critic of militarism", Teaiwa solidified many connections across the Pacific Ocean and was a hugely influential voice on Pacific affairs Her poetry remains widely published.
Martin Everardus Reyners FRSNZ is a New Zealand geophysicist and seismologist. He is a Principal Scientist at the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, Lower Hutt, and is a specialist in subinduction zones, especially in relation to New Zealand.
Esther Tumama Cowley-Malcolm is a Samoan-New Zealand health researcher and practitioner. Cowley-Malcolm completed a Masters degree at Auckland University of Technology in 2005. Her masters thesis was titled Some Samoans' perceptions, values and beliefs on the role of parents and children within the context of aiga/family and the influence of fa'asamoa and the church on Samoan parenting. She did her PhD in Pacific Cultural Studies at the Victoria University of Wellington, she was the first women graduate of the Pacific studies programme. Her doctoral thesis was titled Perceptions of Samoan Parents from a Small Town in New Zealand on Parenting, Childhood Aggression, and the CD-ROM 'Play Nicely' .
Prudence Janet Hyman is a New Zealand anti-trans activist and former cricketer. She was associate professor of economics and gender and women's studies at Victoria University of Wellington until controversial restructuring between 2008 and 2010 abolished Gender and Women's Studies. During the 2023 New Zealand general election, Hyman stood as a candidate for the Women's Rights Party's.
Jo Cribb is a New Zealand civil servant who headed the Ministry for Women. She has given a talk at TEDxWellington and published work on volunteerism.
Pip Adam is a novelist, short story writer, and reviewer from New Zealand.
Annette Diana Huntington is a New Zealand nursing academic. She is a professor of nursing and head of school at Massey University and previously served as chair of the Nursing Council of New Zealand.
Lisa Marriott is a New Zealand accounting academic. She is currently a full professor at Victoria University of Wellington.
Wilfred Gordon Malcolm was a New Zealand mathematician and university administrator. He was professor of pure mathematics at Victoria University of Wellington from the mid 1970s, until serving as vice-chancellor of the University of Waikato between 1985 and 1994.
Sarah Isabella Leberman is a New Zealand sport management academic, as of 2012 is a full professor at the Massey University.
Barbara Gay Williams is a retired New Zealand nurse.
Afu Lia Billy is a women's rights activist and writer in Solomon Islands. Since the late 1970s, she has worked to promote women's rights and combat violence against women, including through work with various local and international NGOs.
Lara Strongman is a curator, writer and art historian from New Zealand.
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