Women’s political representation remains low at the national level in the Pacific islands region. Overall there are just 30 (6.1 per cent) female parliamentarians in the region, well below the global average of 23 per cent, and two Pacific states — the Federated States of Micronesia and Vanuatu — have no women members of parliament (MPs). Including non-sovereign territories, the level of women’s representation rises to 13.5 per cent, an increase due in large part to the high numbers of women in the French Polynesian Assembly and the New Caledonian Congress, which combined account for over half of the region’s female legislators. This briefing note takes stock of women’s political participation in recent elections in the region, and identifies trends in the electoral performance of female candidates.