Women and government in Australia
Encyclopedia
From the turn of the 20th century, women have participated in government in Australia. Following federation, the government
of the newly formed Commonwealth of Australia
passed the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902
allowing most women to both vote and stand in the federal election of 1903. South Australia
and Western Australia
granted women the vote before federation, and the states of New South Wales
, Tasmania
, Queensland
and Victoria also passed legislation allowing women to participate in government at the state and local levels following federation. Indigenous Australian
women did not achieve suffrage at all levels of government and in all states and territories until 1962.
Although Australia was the first country to allow women to stand in elections, women were not successful at a federal election until 1943. In general, women have been slow to enter all levels of politics in Australia. Only South Australia has not had a female Premier. The first female Premier was Carmen Lawrence
, leading Western Australia
for three years until 1993. Currently, female Premiers lead the states of Queensland (Anna Bligh
) and Tasmania (Lara Giddings
), and Chief Minister Katy Gallagher
leads the Australian Capital Territory.
Julia Gillard
became Australia's first female Prime Minister on 24 June 2010.
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Women's suffrage
groups began to appear in the Australian political landscape in the 1880s. The first, the Victorian Women’s Suffrage Society, was formed by Henrietta Dugdale
in Victoria in 1884. The organisations involved in the suffrage movement varied across the colonies. A unified body, the Australian Women's Suffrage Society was formed in 1889, the society's aims were to educate women and men about a woman's right to vote and stand for parliament. Key figures in the Australian suffrage movement included, from South Australia Mary Lee
and Catherine Helen Spence
, in Western Australia Edith Cowan
, from New South Wales Maybanke Anderson
, Louisa Lawson
, Dora Montefiore
and Rose Scott
, Tasmanians Alicia O'Shea Petersen
and Jessie Rooke
, Queenslander Emma Miller
, and Victorians Annette Bear-Crawford
, Henrietta Dugdale, Vida Goldstein
, Alice Henry
and Annie Lowe
.
In 1861 land-owning South Australia
n women were able to vote in local elections. In 1894, South Australia followed New Zealand in extending the franchise to women voters - but went further than New Zealand and offered women also the right to stand for the colonial Parliament. South Australian women voted for the first time in the 1896 SA House of Assembly election. In 1897 Catherine Helen Spence
became the first woman political candidate when she ran for election to the National Australasian Convention as one of ten delegates, but came 22nd out of 33 candidates. In 1899 Western Australia
n women achieved voting rights for colonial elections but not the right to stand for the colonial Parliament. In 1901 women from both South Australia and Western Australia voted in the 1901 federal election.
On 12 June 1902 the Commonwealth Franchise Act came into effect, granting most Australian women the right to vote and stand in Commonwealth elections. Franchise of Indigenous Australians at the federal level was not universal until 1962, and voting by Indigenous Australians was not compulsory until 1984. The first election at which women used both the right to vote and stand for election was the 1903 election, held on 16 December 1903. Four women stood for election: Selina Anderson
stood for election to the House of Representatives
for the Division of Dalley
; and Vida Goldstein
, Nellie Martel
and Mary Moore-Bentley
ran for Senate
positions; none were successful.
Following the inclusion of women in the 1903 election, many Australian women and the Australian government, led by Prime Minister Alfred Deakin
, used their experience to promote women's suffrage in the United Kingdom
and elsewhere. 'Trust the Women Mother, As I Have Done', banner painted by Dora Meeson was carried at the head of the Australian and New Zealand Women Voters' Committee contingent in the Women's Suffrage Coronation March in London on 17 June 1911.
New South Wales, Tasmania, Queensland and Victoria followed the lead of the other states in allowing women to vote, and later to stand for election. Victoria, the last state to grant women's suffrage, had briefly allowed women to vote when the Electoral Act 1863 enfranchised all ratepayers listed on local municipal rolls. Women in Victoria voted in the 1864 general election
. The legislative mistake was quickly repaired in 1865, and it took 19 private members' bills from 1889 until Victorian women gained the vote in 1908, and were able to exercise the vote in 1911. Women in the Northern Territory
and the Australian Capital Territory
were, as federal subjects, eligible to vote at the federal level from their establishment. By the time the territories achieved self-government in 1978 and 1989 respectively, they did not need to enact specific legislation to enable the women's vote.
The right to vote in local government elections was granted later in most jurisdictions than it was at the state and federal levels. The right to vote in local elections was also not automatic, as property ownership qualifications limited the eligibility to vote and stand for local elections.
Significantly in 2010-2011 (till the March 2011 state election) the Australian state of New South Wales capital city of Sydney was operating under total female governance from Lord Mayor (also State Member of Parliament for Sydney) Clover Moore, State Premier Kristina Keneally, State Governor Marie Bashir, Sydney Federal Member of Parliament Tanya Plibersek, Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard and Governor-General of Australia Dr Quentin Bryce therefore making this particular region of Australia totally operate under women leadership at all levels of governance.
was elected to the House of Representatives
as the member for the Division of Darwin
, which was located in Tasmania
, and Dorothy Tangney
was elected to the Senate
representing Western Australia
. In 1949 Enid Lyons became the first female cabinet member, however her appointment as Vice-President of the Executive Council did not involve the administration of any department. In 1966 Senator Dame Annabelle Rankin
became the first woman with a federal portfolio when she became Minister for Housing. In 1975 Senator Margaret Guilfoyle
was the first female cabinet minister with a portfolio, Education.
In 1983 Ros Kelly
was the first woman to give birth while an MP. In 1986 there were two firsts, Joan Child
became the first female Speaker of the House of Representatives
and Janine Haines
became the first woman to lead a parliamentary party when she became head of the Australian Democrats
. Margaret Reid
became the first female President of the Senate
in 1996.
Kathy Sullivan
, with a total service of 27 years, is the longest-serving female federal parliamentarian. She was the first woman to have served in both the Senate and the House of Representatives
.
In the Forty-First Parliament of Australia (2004-2007) there were 23 female senators and 38 women in the House of Representatives.
On 24 June 2010, Julia Gillard
became the first woman to lead one of the major political parties at the federal level as Leader of the Australian Labor Party, as well as the first female Prime Minister of Australia.
, when she was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly
in 1921. Millicent Preston-Stanley
was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
in 1925, Irene Longman
was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly
in 1929 and Millie Peacock
was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly
in 1933. Ironically, South Australia as the first state to allow women to sit in state parliament, was also the last to have a female sitting member when Joyce Steele
and Jessie Cooper
were elected on the same day in 1959. Both the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly
and Northern Territory Legislative Assembly
had women in their inaugural Parliaments. Women were not elected to the Upper House of state parliaments until after World War II.
In 1989 Rosemary Follett
became the first female head of government in Australia, as Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory
. Carmen Lawrence
was the first female premier of an Australian state when she took office in February 1990. She was followed by the appointment of Joan Kirner
as Premier of Victoria in 1990. Clare Martin
was Chief Minister of the Northern Territory
from 2001 to 2007. Anna Bligh
became Premier of Queensland in 2007 when Peter Beattie
retired. In 2008, she became the first woman in Australia to be elected Premier. In 2009, Kristina Keneally
became the first female Premier of New South Wales, and in 2011 Lara Giddings
became the first female Premier of Tasmania. This again leaves South Australia as the only state or territory not to have had a female head of government.
The Queensland Legislative Assembly
currently has the highest female parliamentary representation in Australia and the third highest in the world, with 30 out of 89 Members being women.
, elected in 1928 to Newtown Municipal Council; she was later to become Australia's first woman mayor. New South Wales also produced Australia's first female Lord Mayor, Alderman Joy Cummings, who was elected to Newcastle City Council in 1974. Dorothy E Edwards, Tasmania's first alderman, was elected to Launceston City Council in 1950.
In 1951 the Australian Local Government Women's Association (ALGWA) was formed. The ALGWA is an association of local government women helping other women to join them.
In 1975 Western Australia and the Northern Territory elected their first women mayors, Councillor Evelyn H. Parker of Subiaco and Dr Ella Stack of Darwin City respectively.
In the 1980s women began to hold the position of Lord Mayor in the capital cities for the first time, including:
Government of Australia
The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal constitutional monarchy under a parliamentary democracy. The Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901 as a result of an agreement among six self-governing British colonies, which became the six states...
of the newly formed Commonwealth of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
passed the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902
Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902
The Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902 was an Act of the Parliament of Australia which defined who was allowed to vote in Australian federal elections. The Act granted Australian women the right to vote at a national level, and to stand for election to the Parliament...
allowing most women to both vote and stand in the federal election of 1903. South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
and Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
granted women the vote before federation, and the states of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
, Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
and Victoria also passed legislation allowing women to participate in government at the state and local levels following federation. Indigenous Australian
Australian Aborigines
Australian Aborigines , also called Aboriginal Australians, from the latin ab originem , are people who are indigenous to most of the Australian continentthat is, to mainland Australia and the island of Tasmania...
women did not achieve suffrage at all levels of government and in all states and territories until 1962.
Although Australia was the first country to allow women to stand in elections, women were not successful at a federal election until 1943. In general, women have been slow to enter all levels of politics in Australia. Only South Australia has not had a female Premier. The first female Premier was Carmen Lawrence
Carmen Lawrence
Carmen Mary Lawrence is a retired Australian politician; a former Premier of Western Australia and the first woman to become Premier of a State of the Commonwealth of Australia....
, leading Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
for three years until 1993. Currently, female Premiers lead the states of Queensland (Anna Bligh
Anna Bligh
Anna Maria Bligh is an Australian politician and the Premier of Queensland since 2007. The 2009 Queensland state election was the first time a female-led political party won or retained state or federal government in Australia...
) and Tasmania (Lara Giddings
Lara Giddings
Larissa Tahireh "Lara" Giddings is an Australian politician and the 44th and current Premier of Tasmania since January 2011...
), and Chief Minister Katy Gallagher
Katy Gallagher
Katy Gallagher , an Australian politician, is the sixth and current Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory and a member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly since 2001, representing the electorate of Molonglo for the Australian Labor Party...
leads the Australian Capital Territory.
Julia Gillard
Julia Gillard
Julia Eileen Gillard is the 27th and current Prime Minister of Australia, in office since June 2010.Gillard was born in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales and migrated with her family to Adelaide, Australia in 1966, attending Mitcham Demonstration School and Unley High School. In 1982 Gillard moved...
became Australia's first female Prime Minister on 24 June 2010.
Women's suffrage
Women's suffrage
Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...
groups began to appear in the Australian political landscape in the 1880s. The first, the Victorian Women’s Suffrage Society, was formed by Henrietta Dugdale
Henrietta Dugdale
Henrietta Augusta Dugdale was a pioneer suffragist and radical in the Australian state of Victoria.She was born in London. Married at age 14 to a man named Davies, she and her husband moved to Melbourne. Following his death in 1859, she married William Dugdale and they had three children. Austin,...
in Victoria in 1884. The organisations involved in the suffrage movement varied across the colonies. A unified body, the Australian Women's Suffrage Society was formed in 1889, the society's aims were to educate women and men about a woman's right to vote and stand for parliament. Key figures in the Australian suffrage movement included, from South Australia Mary Lee
Mary Lee
Mary Lee was an Irish-Australian suffragist and social reformer in South Australia....
and Catherine Helen Spence
Catherine Helen Spence
Catherine Helen Spence was a Scottish-born Australian author, teacher, journalist, politician and leading suffragette. In 1897 she became Australia's first female political candidate after standing for the Federal Convention held in Adelaide...
, in Western Australia Edith Cowan
Edith Cowan
Edith Dircksey Cowan , MBE was an Australian politician, social campaigner and the first woman elected to an Australian parliament....
, from New South Wales Maybanke Anderson
Maybanke Anderson
Maybanke Susannah Anderson also known as Maybanke Wolstenholme was a Sydney reformer involved in women's suffrage and federation.-Early life:...
, Louisa Lawson
Louisa Lawson
Louisa Lawson was an Australian writer, publisher, suffragist, and feminist. She was the mother of the poet and author Henry Lawson.-Early life:...
, Dora Montefiore
Dora Montefiore
Dorothy Frances Montefiore was an English-Australian women's suffragist and socialist. She also wrote poetry, and her autobiography.-Early life:...
and Rose Scott
Rose Scott
Rose Scott was an Australian women's rights activist who protested for women's suffrage and universal suffrage in New South Wales at the turn-of-the twentieth century .-Early life:...
, Tasmanians Alicia O'Shea Petersen
Alicia O'Shea Petersen
Alicia O'Shea Petersen was a Tasmanian suffragist and social reformer.Alicia O'Shea Petersen was born in Tasmania. She became interested in women's and labor rights as a result of her own work in sweatshops...
and Jessie Rooke
Jessie Rooke
Jessie Spinks Rooke was a suffragette and temperance reformer in Tasmania, Australia, and one of the first Tasmanian women to gain recognition outside Tasmania....
, Queenslander Emma Miller
Emma Miller
Emma Miller was a pioneer trade union organiser, suffragist, and founder of the Australian Labor Party in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.-Early life:...
, and Victorians Annette Bear-Crawford
Annette Bear-Crawford
Annette Bear-Crawford was a women's suffragist and federationist in Victoria.-Early life:Bear-Crawford was born in East Melbourne, her family was wealthy and she spent her childhood in Australia and England. She had three brothers and five sisters...
, Henrietta Dugdale, Vida Goldstein
Vida Goldstein
Vida Jane Mary Goldstein was an early Australian feminist politician who campaigned for women's suffrage and social reform.-Early years:...
, Alice Henry
Alice Henry
Alice Henry , was an Australian suffragist, journalist and trade unionist who also became prominent in the American trade union movement as a member of the Women's Trade Union League....
and Annie Lowe
Annie Lowe
Annie Lowe was a suffragist in Victoria, Australia. She and Henrietta Dugdale founded the Victorian Women's Suffrage Society in 1884....
.
In 1861 land-owning South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
n women were able to vote in local elections. In 1894, South Australia followed New Zealand in extending the franchise to women voters - but went further than New Zealand and offered women also the right to stand for the colonial Parliament. South Australian women voted for the first time in the 1896 SA House of Assembly election. In 1897 Catherine Helen Spence
Catherine Helen Spence
Catherine Helen Spence was a Scottish-born Australian author, teacher, journalist, politician and leading suffragette. In 1897 she became Australia's first female political candidate after standing for the Federal Convention held in Adelaide...
became the first woman political candidate when she ran for election to the National Australasian Convention as one of ten delegates, but came 22nd out of 33 candidates. In 1899 Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
n women achieved voting rights for colonial elections but not the right to stand for the colonial Parliament. In 1901 women from both South Australia and Western Australia voted in the 1901 federal election.
| Parliament | Right to vote (a) | Right to stand | First elected to lower house | First elected to upper house |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commonwealth | 1902 (b) | 1902 | 1943, Enid Lyons Enid Lyons Dame Enid Muriel Lyons, AD, GBE was an Australian politician and the first woman to be elected to the Australian House of Representatives as well as the first woman appointed to the federal Cabinet... |
1943, Dorothy Tangney Dorothy Tangney Dame Dorothy Margaret Tangney DBE was an Australian politician and the first woman member of the Australian Senate.Dorothy Tangney started her career as a school teacher in Western Australia... |
| State | ||||
| South Australia | 1894 | 1894 | 1959, Joyce Steele Joyce Steele Joyce Steele was an Australian politician and one of the first two women elected to the Parliament of South Australia, the other being Jessie Cooper... |
1959, Jessie Cooper Jessie Cooper Jessie Mary Cooper . Elected as a Liberal and Country League representative to the South Australian Legislative Council in 1959, she was the first female member of the Parliament of South Australia, beating Joyce Steele, who had been elected to the House of Assembly the same day, by only an hour... |
| Western Australia | 1899 | 1920 | 1921, Edith Cowan Edith Cowan Edith Dircksey Cowan , MBE was an Australian politician, social campaigner and the first woman elected to an Australian parliament.... |
1954, Ruby Hutchison Ruby Hutchison Ruby Hutchison was the first woman elected to the Western Australian Legislative Council in 1954 serving until 1971. She also was a key figure in the establishment of the Australasian Consumers' Association in 1959 .-References:*ACA.... |
| New South Wales | 1902 | 1918 | 1925, Millicent Preston-Stanley Millicent Preston-Stanley Millicent Preston-Stanley was an Australian feminist, politician and the first female member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly and the second woman to enter government in Australia.Preston-Stanley was born in Sydney... |
1952 (c), Gertrude Melville Gertrude Melville Gertrude Mary Melville née Day was the first woman elected to the New South Wales Legislative Council in 1952.-References:... |
| Tasmania | 1903 | 1921 | 1955, Mabel Miller Mabel Miller Dame Mabel Flora Miller, DBE was an Australian lawyer and politician. She was the first woman elected to the Hobart City Council and one of the first two women to be elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly.... and Amelia Best Amelia Best Amelia Martha Best MBE was one of the first two women elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly.Best was born in Lower Barrington, Tasmania, Australia... |
1948, Margaret McIntyre Margaret McIntyre Margaret Edgeworth David McIntyre OBE was the first woman elected to the Parliament of Tasmania , representing the seat of Cornwall in the Legislative Council.... |
| Queensland | 1905 | 1915 | 1929, Irene Longman Irene Longman Irene Maud Longman was a female Queensland politician. She was the first woman to stand and be elected to the Queensland Parliament.... |
n.a. |
| Victoria | 1908 | 1923 | 1933, Millie Peacock Millie Peacock Millie Gertrude Peacock, Lady Peacock was the first woman elected to the Parliament of Victoria.-Early life:... |
1979, Gracia Baylor Gracia Baylor Hilda Gracia Baylor AM is a retired Australian politician. Baylor was one of the first two women elected to the Victorian Legislative Council in 1979, the other being Joan Coxsedge.... , Joan Coxsedge Joan Coxsedge Joan Marjorie Coxsedge is an Australian artist, activist, and a former politician. She was one of the first two women elected to the Victorian Legislative Council in 1979.... |
| (a) The dates for the right to vote at State level refer to equal rights for women and men, but not necessarily universal rights; (b) Women in SA and WA were able to vote in the 1901 federal election; (c) Two women, Catherine Green Catherine Green (Australian politician) Catherine Elizabeth Green was an Australian politician.Born in Curban in New South Wales to farmer Daniel Diggs and Catherine Kain, she was educated at the Curban public school until the family moved to Dubbo when Catherine was fourteen. She was a domestic in a hotel before moving to Sydney around... and Ellen Webster Ellen Webster Ellen Webster was an Australian politician.Born in Tenterfield in New South Wales to Irish immigrant parents , she was raised on the family property and educated at home... , had been appointed to the upper house in 1931. |
||||
On 12 June 1902 the Commonwealth Franchise Act came into effect, granting most Australian women the right to vote and stand in Commonwealth elections. Franchise of Indigenous Australians at the federal level was not universal until 1962, and voting by Indigenous Australians was not compulsory until 1984. The first election at which women used both the right to vote and stand for election was the 1903 election, held on 16 December 1903. Four women stood for election: Selina Anderson
Selina Anderson
Selina Sarah Elizabeth Anderson was an Australian trade unionist and the first woman to contest a seat in the Australian House of Representatives....
stood for election to the House of Representatives
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....
for the Division of Dalley
Division of Dalley
The Division of Dalley was an Australian Electoral Division in New South Wales. The division was created in 1900 and was one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election. It was abolished in 1969. It was named for the colonial politician William Dalley. It was located in the...
; and Vida Goldstein
Vida Goldstein
Vida Jane Mary Goldstein was an early Australian feminist politician who campaigned for women's suffrage and social reform.-Early years:...
, Nellie Martel
Nellie Martel
Ellen Alma "Nellie" Martel, née Charleston was an English-Australian suffragist and elocutionist.-Life:...
and Mary Moore-Bentley
Mary Moore-Bentley
Mary Ann Moore-Bentley, also known as Mary Ling was an Australian writer and parliamentary candidate....
ran for Senate
Australian Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...
positions; none were successful.
Following the inclusion of women in the 1903 election, many Australian women and the Australian government, led by Prime Minister Alfred Deakin
Alfred Deakin
Alfred Deakin , Australian politician, was a leader of the movement for Australian federation and later the second Prime Minister of Australia. In the last quarter of the 19th century, Deakin was a major contributor to the establishment of liberal reforms in the colony of Victoria, including the...
, used their experience to promote women's suffrage in the United Kingdom
Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom
Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom as a national movement began in 1872. Women were not prohibited from voting in the United Kingdom until the 1832 Reform Act and the 1835 Municipal Corporations Act...
and elsewhere. 'Trust the Women Mother, As I Have Done', banner painted by Dora Meeson was carried at the head of the Australian and New Zealand Women Voters' Committee contingent in the Women's Suffrage Coronation March in London on 17 June 1911.
New South Wales, Tasmania, Queensland and Victoria followed the lead of the other states in allowing women to vote, and later to stand for election. Victoria, the last state to grant women's suffrage, had briefly allowed women to vote when the Electoral Act 1863 enfranchised all ratepayers listed on local municipal rolls. Women in Victoria voted in the 1864 general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
. The legislative mistake was quickly repaired in 1865, and it took 19 private members' bills from 1889 until Victorian women gained the vote in 1908, and were able to exercise the vote in 1911. Women in the Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
and the Australian Capital Territory
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory, often abbreviated ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and is the smallest self-governing internal territory...
were, as federal subjects, eligible to vote at the federal level from their establishment. By the time the territories achieved self-government in 1978 and 1989 respectively, they did not need to enact specific legislation to enable the women's vote.
The right to vote in local government elections was granted later in most jurisdictions than it was at the state and federal levels. The right to vote in local elections was also not automatic, as property ownership qualifications limited the eligibility to vote and stand for local elections.
Significantly in 2010-2011 (till the March 2011 state election) the Australian state of New South Wales capital city of Sydney was operating under total female governance from Lord Mayor (also State Member of Parliament for Sydney) Clover Moore, State Premier Kristina Keneally, State Governor Marie Bashir, Sydney Federal Member of Parliament Tanya Plibersek, Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard and Governor-General of Australia Dr Quentin Bryce therefore making this particular region of Australia totally operate under women leadership at all levels of governance.
| Right to vote (a) | Right to stand | First elected | |
|---|---|---|---|
| State | |||
| South Australia | 1861 | 1914 | 1919, Grace Benny |
| Western Australia | 1876 | 1919 | 1920, Elizabeth Clapham |
| Victoria | 1903 | 1914 | 1920, Mary Rogers |
| Queensland | 1879 | 1920 | 1925, Ellen Kent-Hughes |
| City of Brisbane | 1924 | 1924 | 1949, Petronel White |
| Tasmania | |||
| Rural | 1893 | 1911 | 1957, Florence Vivien Pendrigh |
| Hobart City Council | 1893 | 1902 | 1952, Mabel Miller Mabel Miller Dame Mabel Flora Miller, DBE was an Australian lawyer and politician. She was the first woman elected to the Hobart City Council and one of the first two women to be elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly.... |
| Launceston City Council | 1894 | 1945 | 1950, Dorothy Edwards |
| New South Wales | |||
| Sydney City Council | 1900 | 1918 | 1965, Joan Mercia Pilone |
| Municipalities and Shires | 1906 | 1918 | 1928, Lilian Fowler Lilian Fowler Elizabeth Lilian Maud Fowler was an Australian politician, and Australia's first female mayor.-Early life:... |
| (a)The right to vote in local elections was not necessarily universal since there were property ownership restrictions on the right to vote in many local jurisdictions. Modified from Sawer, 2001 | |||
Commonwealth government
In most countries, women entered parliament soon after gaining the right to stand. The first women elected to the Commonwealth government were both elected in 1943, 40 years after they were able. The major Australian political parties did not support any female candidates until the Second World War, until this time all female candidates were independent or backed by minor political parties. In 1943 and with major party backing, Dame Enid LyonsEnid Lyons
Dame Enid Muriel Lyons, AD, GBE was an Australian politician and the first woman to be elected to the Australian House of Representatives as well as the first woman appointed to the federal Cabinet...
was elected to the House of Representatives
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....
as the member for the Division of Darwin
Division of Darwin
The Division of Darwin was an Australian Electoral Division in Tasmania. The division was created in 1903 and abolished in 1955, when it was replaced by the Division of Braddon. It was named after Charles Darwin, who visited Australia in 1836. It was located in north-western Tasmania, including the...
, which was located in Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
, and Dorothy Tangney
Dorothy Tangney
Dame Dorothy Margaret Tangney DBE was an Australian politician and the first woman member of the Australian Senate.Dorothy Tangney started her career as a school teacher in Western Australia...
was elected to the Senate
Australian Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...
representing Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
. In 1949 Enid Lyons became the first female cabinet member, however her appointment as Vice-President of the Executive Council did not involve the administration of any department. In 1966 Senator Dame Annabelle Rankin
Annabelle Rankin
Dame Annabelle Jane Mary Rankin DBE was the second woman member of the Australian Senate, the first woman from Queensland to sit in the Parliament of Australia, the first woman to have a federal portfolio and the first woman to be appointed head of a foreign mission.-Biography:Rankin was born in...
became the first woman with a federal portfolio when she became Minister for Housing. In 1975 Senator Margaret Guilfoyle
Margaret Guilfoyle
Dame Margaret Georgina Constance Guilfoyle, AC, DBE was a British-born Australian Senator for the state of Victoria from 1971 to 1987. She was the second woman to receive a federal ministerial portfolio, after Dame Enid Lyons...
was the first female cabinet minister with a portfolio, Education.
In 1983 Ros Kelly
Ros Kelly
Ros Kelly AO was a member of the Australian House of Representatives for the Division of Canberra from 18 October 1980 to 30 January 1995. She was a minister in the governments of Bob Hawke and Paul Keating....
was the first woman to give birth while an MP. In 1986 there were two firsts, Joan Child
Joan Child
Gloria Joan Liles Child AO is a former Australian politician. She was the first, and so far only, woman to be Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives....
became the first female Speaker of the House of Representatives
Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives
The Speaker of the House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Parliament of Australia. The presiding officer in the upper house is the President of the Senate....
and Janine Haines
Janine Haines
Janine Haines, AM , Australian politician, was the first female federal parliamentary leader of an Australian political party. An Australian Democrat, she was also the first member of that party to enter the federal parliament after the party's formation...
became the first woman to lead a parliamentary party when she became head of the Australian Democrats
Australian Democrats
The Australian Democrats is an Australian political party espousing a socially liberal ideology. It was formed in 1977, by a merger of the Australia Party and the New LM, after principals of those minor parties secured the commitment of former Liberal minister Don Chipp, as a high profile leader...
. Margaret Reid
Margaret Reid
Margaret Elizabeth Reid AO is a former Australian politician. She was the first woman to be President of the Australian Senate.-Early years:...
became the first female President of the Senate
President of the Australian Senate
The President of the Australian Senate is the presiding officer of the Australian Senate, the upper house of the Parliament of Australia. The presiding officer of the lower house is the Speaker of the House of Representatives....
in 1996.
Kathy Sullivan
Kathy Sullivan (Australian politician)
Kathy Sullivan , Australian politician, was a Liberal member of the Australian Senate from 1974 to 1984, representing Queensland, and a member of the House of Representatives for the Division of Moncrieff, Queensland, from 1984 to 2001. She served longer in the Australian Parliament than any other...
, with a total service of 27 years, is the longest-serving female federal parliamentarian. She was the first woman to have served in both the Senate and the House of Representatives
People who have served in both Houses of the Australian Parliament
This is a list of Members of the Australian Parliament who have served in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.Section 43 of the Constitution of Australia says: "A member of either House of the Parliament shall be incapable of being chosen or of sitting as a member of the other...
.
In the Forty-First Parliament of Australia (2004-2007) there were 23 female senators and 38 women in the House of Representatives.
On 24 June 2010, Julia Gillard
Julia Gillard
Julia Eileen Gillard is the 27th and current Prime Minister of Australia, in office since June 2010.Gillard was born in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales and migrated with her family to Adelaide, Australia in 1966, attending Mitcham Demonstration School and Unley High School. In 1982 Gillard moved...
became the first woman to lead one of the major political parties at the federal level as Leader of the Australian Labor Party, as well as the first female Prime Minister of Australia.
Commonwealth Public Service
The Commonwealth Public Service Act 1902 stated that every female officer was "deemed to have retired from the Commonwealth service upon her marriage". The very great majority of women were effectively blocked from non-secretarial positions in the Commonwealth Public Service. In 1949 women were allowed into the clerical division of the service but they remained restricted by the marriage rule. In 1966 Australia became the last democratic country to lift the ban on married women in the public service.State and territory governments
The first woman elected to a state parliament was Edith CowanEdith Cowan
Edith Dircksey Cowan , MBE was an Australian politician, social campaigner and the first woman elected to an Australian parliament....
, when she was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly
Western Australian Legislative Assembly
The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Perth....
in 1921. Millicent Preston-Stanley
Millicent Preston-Stanley
Millicent Preston-Stanley was an Australian feminist, politician and the first female member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly and the second woman to enter government in Australia.Preston-Stanley was born in Sydney...
was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
New South Wales Legislative Assembly
The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The other chamber is the Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney...
in 1925, Irene Longman
Irene Longman
Irene Maud Longman was a female Queensland politician. She was the first woman to stand and be elected to the Queensland Parliament....
was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly
Queensland Legislative Assembly
The Queensland Legislative Assembly is the unicameral chamber of the Parliament of Queensland. Elections are held approximately once every three years. Voting is by the Optional Preferential Voting form of the Alternative Vote system...
in 1929 and Millie Peacock
Millie Peacock
Millie Gertrude Peacock, Lady Peacock was the first woman elected to the Parliament of Victoria.-Early life:...
was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly
Victorian Legislative Assembly
The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the Parliament of Victoria in Australia. Together with the Victorian Legislative Council, the upper house, it sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Melbourne.-History:...
in 1933. Ironically, South Australia as the first state to allow women to sit in state parliament, was also the last to have a female sitting member when Joyce Steele
Joyce Steele
Joyce Steele was an Australian politician and one of the first two women elected to the Parliament of South Australia, the other being Jessie Cooper...
and Jessie Cooper
Jessie Cooper
Jessie Mary Cooper . Elected as a Liberal and Country League representative to the South Australian Legislative Council in 1959, she was the first female member of the Parliament of South Australia, beating Joyce Steele, who had been elected to the House of Assembly the same day, by only an hour...
were elected on the same day in 1959. Both the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly
Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly
The Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Australian Capital Territory...
and Northern Territory Legislative Assembly
Northern Territory Legislative Assembly
The Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory is the unicameral parliament of the Northern Territory in Australia. It sits in Parliament House, located on State Square, close to the centre of the city of Darwin.-History:...
had women in their inaugural Parliaments. Women were not elected to the Upper House of state parliaments until after World War II.
In 1989 Rosemary Follett
Rosemary Follett
Rosemary Follett AO , Australian politician, was the first Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory. She was the first woman to become head of government in an Australian state or territory....
became the first female head of government in Australia, as Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory
Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory
The Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory is the head of government of the Australian Capital Territory. The leader of party with the largest representation of seats in the unicameral Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly usually takes on the role...
. Carmen Lawrence
Carmen Lawrence
Carmen Mary Lawrence is a retired Australian politician; a former Premier of Western Australia and the first woman to become Premier of a State of the Commonwealth of Australia....
was the first female premier of an Australian state when she took office in February 1990. She was followed by the appointment of Joan Kirner
Joan Kirner
Joan Elizabeth Kirner AM , Australian politician, was the 42nd Premier of Victoria, the first woman to hold the position, which she held for two years prior to a landslide election defeat.-Biography:...
as Premier of Victoria in 1990. Clare Martin
Clare Martin
Clare Majella Martin is a former Australian politician. She is the current CEO of the Australian Council of Social Service . A former journalist, she was elected to the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly in a shock by-election win in 1995...
was Chief Minister of the Northern Territory
Chief Minister of the Northern Territory
The Chief Minister of the Northern Territory is appointed by the Administrator, who in normal circumstances will appoint the head of whatever party holds the majority of seats in the legislature of the territory...
from 2001 to 2007. Anna Bligh
Anna Bligh
Anna Maria Bligh is an Australian politician and the Premier of Queensland since 2007. The 2009 Queensland state election was the first time a female-led political party won or retained state or federal government in Australia...
became Premier of Queensland in 2007 when Peter Beattie
Peter Beattie
Peter Douglas Beattie , Australian politician, was the 36th Premier of the Australian state of Queensland for nine years and leader of the Australian Labor Party in that state for eleven and a half years...
retired. In 2008, she became the first woman in Australia to be elected Premier. In 2009, Kristina Keneally
Kristina Keneally
Kristina Kerscher Keneally MP, is an Australian politician and was the 42nd Premier of New South Wales. She was elected leader of the Australian Labor Party in New South Wales and thus Premier in 2009, but went on to lose government to the Liberal/National Coalition at the March 2011 state election...
became the first female Premier of New South Wales, and in 2011 Lara Giddings
Lara Giddings
Larissa Tahireh "Lara" Giddings is an Australian politician and the 44th and current Premier of Tasmania since January 2011...
became the first female Premier of Tasmania. This again leaves South Australia as the only state or territory not to have had a female head of government.
The Queensland Legislative Assembly
Queensland Legislative Assembly
The Queensland Legislative Assembly is the unicameral chamber of the Parliament of Queensland. Elections are held approximately once every three years. Voting is by the Optional Preferential Voting form of the Alternative Vote system...
currently has the highest female parliamentary representation in Australia and the third highest in the world, with 30 out of 89 Members being women.
Local government
The first woman elected to a local government authority in Australia was Grace Benny, who was elected to the Brighton Council in South Australia in 1919. Mary Rogers was elected to Richmond City Council, Victoria in 1920 and Elizabeth Clapham was elected to Western Australia's Cottesloe Town Council. Queensland's first female councillor was Dr Ellen Kent-Hughes, elected to Kingaroy Shire Council in 1925. New South Wales' first female alderman was Lilian FowlerLilian Fowler
Elizabeth Lilian Maud Fowler was an Australian politician, and Australia's first female mayor.-Early life:...
, elected in 1928 to Newtown Municipal Council; she was later to become Australia's first woman mayor. New South Wales also produced Australia's first female Lord Mayor, Alderman Joy Cummings, who was elected to Newcastle City Council in 1974. Dorothy E Edwards, Tasmania's first alderman, was elected to Launceston City Council in 1950.
In 1951 the Australian Local Government Women's Association (ALGWA) was formed. The ALGWA is an association of local government women helping other women to join them.
In 1975 Western Australia and the Northern Territory elected their first women mayors, Councillor Evelyn H. Parker of Subiaco and Dr Ella Stack of Darwin City respectively.
In the 1980s women began to hold the position of Lord Mayor in the capital cities for the first time, including:
- Brisbane - Sallyanne AtkinsonSallyanne AtkinsonSallyanne Atkinson AO is an Australian politician, former Lord Mayor of Brisbane and former chair of ABC Learning, a bankrupted Australian childcare operator.She is Special Representative for the Queensland Government in South-East Asia....
(1985–91) - Hobart - Doone Kennedy (1986–96)
- Melbourne - Lecki Ord (1987–88) and Winsome McCaugheyWinsome McCaugheyWinsome McCaughey , was Lord Mayor of Melbourne from 1988-1989. She was the second woman to hold that position after succeeding Alexis Ord. When her term as mayor ended, she headed Melbourne's bid for the 1996 Olympic Games. She also spent three years as the CEO of the Australia New Zealand Food...
(1988–89) - Sydney - Lucy TurnbullLucy TurnbullLucinda Mary "Lucy" Turnbull, née Hughes AO , a former Australian politician and former Lord Mayor of Sydney, is a prominent Australian business leader and company director. Turnbull was the first female Lord Mayor of Sydney, between 2003 and 2004 and was Deputy Lord Mayor, between 1999 and 2003...
(2003–04) and Clover MooreClover MooreClover Moore , is an Australian politician, the Lord Mayor of the City of Sydney and an independent member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing the electorate of Sydney. Moore is the first publicly elected female Lord Mayor of Sydney. Prior to the 2007 NSW state election, she...
(2004-).
See also
- Women in the Australian House of RepresentativesWomen in the Australian House of RepresentativesThere have been 85 women in the Australian House of Representatives since the establishment of the Parliament of Australia. Women have had the right to both vote and sit in parliament since 1902, however the first woman to enter the House of Representatives was Dame Enid Lyons in 1943...
- Women in the Australian SenateWomen in the Australian SenateThere have been 80 women in the Australian Senate since the establishment of the Parliament of Australia. Women have had the right to both vote and sit in parliament since 1902 and all states and territories have been represented by a woman in the Senate...
- Women in the New South Wales Legislative AssemblyWomen in the New South Wales Legislative AssemblyThere have been 55 women in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly since its establishment in 1856. Women have had the right to vote in the assembly since 1902 and the right to stand as a candidate since 1918....
- Women in the New South Wales Legislative CouncilWomen in the New South Wales Legislative CouncilThere have been 50 women in the New South Wales Legislative Council since its establishment in 1856. Women have had the right to stand as a candidate since 1918; the Council introduced direct election in 1978....
- Women in the Victorian Legislative AssemblyWomen in the Victorian Legislative AssemblyThere have been 72 women in the Victorian Legislative Assembly since its establishment in 1856. Women have had the right to vote in the Assembly since 1908 and the right to stand as a candidate since 1923....
- Women in the Victorian Legislative CouncilWomen in the Victorian Legislative CouncilThere have been 37 women in the Victorian Legislative Council since its establishment in 1856. Women have had the right to vote in the Assembly since 1908 and the right to stand as a candidate since 1923....
- Women in the Queensland Legislative AssemblyWomen in the Queensland Legislative AssemblyThere have been 62 women in the Queensland Legislative Assembly since its establishment in 1860. Women have had the right to vote in the Assembly since 1905 and the right to stand as candidates since 1915....
- Women in the Western Australian Legislative AssemblyWomen in the Western Australian Legislative AssemblyThere have been 37 women in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly since its establishment in 1890. Women have had the right to vote since 1899 and the right to stand as candidates since 1920....
- Women in the Western Australian Legislative CouncilWomen in the Western Australian Legislative CouncilThere have been 39 women in the Western Australian Legislative Council since its creation in 1832. Women have had the right to vote since 1899 and the right to stand as candidates since 1920....
- Women in the South Australian House of AssemblyWomen in the South Australian House of AssemblyThere have been 31 women in the South Australian House of Assembly since its establishment in 1857. Women have had the right to vote and the right to stand as candidates since 1894....
- Women in the South Australian Legislative CouncilWomen in the South Australian Legislative CouncilThere have been 16 women in the South Australian Legislative Council since its establishment in 1840. Women have had the right to vote and stand as candidates since 1894....
- Women in the Tasmanian House of AssemblyWomen in the Tasmanian House of AssemblyThere have been 24 women in the Tasmanian House of Assembly since its establishment in 1856. Women have had the right to vote since 1903 and the right to stand as candidates since 1921....
- Women in the Tasmanian Legislative CouncilWomen in the Tasmanian Legislative CouncilThere have been 16 women in the Tasmanian Legislative Council since its establishment in 1825. Women have had the right to vote since 1903 and the right to stand as candidates since 1921....