Pauline Tallen OFR (born 8 January 1959) is a Nigerian politician who served as the Minister for Women Affairs and Social Development from 2019 to 2023. She was appointed in 2019 by President Muhammadu Buhari after turning down an ambassadorial nomination in 2015 on the grounds that she was not consulted prior to the announcement of the appointment and that she would not accept the offer for equal distribution of power among the three senatorial districts of her native state of plateau because she is from same local government as Governor Simon Lalong.

In 1999, she was appointed Minister of State for Science and Technology to the cabinet of former president, Olusegun Obasanjo. In 2007, she became the deputy governor of Plateau State and the first woman to be a deputy governor in northern Nigeria. She also contested to be governor of the state in 2011, but lost to Jonah David Jang. She is presently a member, board of trustees of the All Progressive Congress, and was honoured as woman of the year for her contribution to Nigeria at the 10th African Icon of Our Generation Award. She is a board member of National Agency for Control of Aids (NACA).

Tallen is a native of Shendam, the daughter of father Nda Paul Kattiems. She earned a degree in sociology at the University of Jos in 1982.

Tallen's political career started in 1976, when she was the clerical officer at Shendam local government council, then later ministry of local government affairs.

In 2011, she joined Labour Party, then contested in the gubernatorial election of the state. By 1994, she was made a councillor in Plateau State. She was made commissioner in the state by the military government between 1994 and 1999.

In 1999, she was appointed Minister of State for Science and Technology, becoming the first woman to be appointed as a minister in that capacity by former president, Olusegun Obasanjo.^{[citation needed]}

Before the 2015 general elections, she decamped from PDP to APC, a move she believed angered some people in her state. However, she described the move as a calling from God, with no regrets. In 2015, she rejected an ambassadorial nomination by President Buhari, citing federal character and zoning in her state as reasons. In an interview with Leadership, she explained that as deputy governor she contested against the governor for the betterment of the state and because the governor didn't have the interest of the people at heart. She stated that the victory of President Buhari at the 2015 general elections was divinely orchestrated.

She was married to John Tallen, a chieftain of the People's Democratic Party who died in 2017. She has five children.