Maere Tekanene is a former I-Kiribati politician, and part of the Pillars of Truth party, who was the Kiribati Member of Parliament for the South Tarawa constituency from 2011, and the Education Minister from 2012, until losing her seat at the 2015–16 parliamentary election.
Prior to entering the political sphere, Maere Takanene worked as a teacher at the Government school in South Tarawa.
She then worked first as a researcher, and then team leader for the Gender-Based Violence and Child Abuse Study at the Ministry of Internal and Social Affairs, and between 2010 and 2011 she was also Vice President for the Interim Kiribati Women in Politics Association.
[3] Afterwards, she said that she was still considering which of the political parties to join, with her primary focus being on helping the women of her local constituency finding new markets in which to sell their handicrafts.
[1] She is one of three MPs for South Tarawa, alongside Teburoro Tito and Mareko Tofinga.