Carmen Bigler

Carmen Milne Bigler (born 19 July 1939) She attended Mwot Christian School, where her father James was a teacher. becoming the first woman from the Marshall Islands to earn a university degree. After returning to the Marshall Islands, she taught at Marshall Islands High School until 1969, also attending summer sessions at the University of Guam and the University of Hawaiʻi in 1968 and 1969. and had three children.

Bigler contested the Marshalls 5th District of the Trust Territory House of Representatives in the 1974 elections, running an American-style campaign with bumper stickers, posters and newspaper adverts. She convincingly defeated incumbent representative John Heine by 729 votes to 372, becoming the first woman elected to Congress. However, she lost her seat in the 1976 elections, losing to Chuji Chutaro, who had finished third behind her and Heine in 1974. later becoming Internal Affairs Secretary when the islands gained self-government. helping found the Alele Museum. In 2003 she attempted a return to politics, running in the five-seat Majuro constituency in the general elections that year. However, she finished twelfth out of fifteen candidates.