Gloria Julia King

Gloria Julia King is an athlete, businesswoman, and politician in Vanuatu. In 2022, she was elected to the Parliament of Vanuatu. She is only the sixth woman in the country to become a member of Parliament.

Biography
Gloria Julia King is Ni-Vanuatu from the Vanuatuan islet of Mele. She is a former member of the Vanuatu women's national football team and represented Vanuatu at the 2003 South Pacific Games. She has since served as a football coach and manager, and as the chef de mission for the Vanuatuan delegation at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Also a businesswoman, she runs a company selling kava, a popular and ritually important beverage.

King first became involved in politics when she joined efforts to establish a village water system in Mele.

In the 2022 Vanuatuan general election, she ran for a seat in the rural Efate constituency as a candidate from the Union of Moderate Parties. Her campaign included a commitment to improve opportunities for women in business. She was elected with 1,618 votes, becoming only the sixth woman to become a member of Parliament in Vanuatu, and the first in 14 years.

King currently serves as the only woman in the 52-member Parliament, and she was the first woman to hold the position of third deputy speaker, a position she lost during the 2023 political shakeup.