This was the best result for women candidates since 1977 when the first elections were conducted in the newly independent State of Papua New Guinea.
However, three MPs is still only a small percentage of all MPs, because elections remain dominated by men.
According to The Data on PNG elections from the Development Policy Centre of the Australian National University, in 2012, just 4 per cent of candidates were women.
In each of PNG’s regions, women candidates won lower vote shares than men in 2012. This reflects the challenges women candidates face.