Women in the South Australian Legislative Council

There have been 16 women in the South Australian Legislative Council
South Australian Legislative Council
The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the House of Assembly...

since its establishment in 1840. Women have had the right to vote and stand as candidates since 1894.

The first successful female candidate for the Legislative Council was 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...

, a member of the Liberal and Country League

Liberal and Country League

The Liberal and Country League was a major political party in South Australia throughout its forty year existence. Thirty-four years were spent in government, in part due to the electoral malapportionment known as the Playmander, introduced after coming to power.Created on 9 June 1932 as the...

, in 1959. In 1975 she was joined by the Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

's first MLC, Anne Levy

Anne Levy

Judith Anne Winstanley Levy AO is a former Australian politician. She was a Labor member of the South Australian Legislative Council from 1975 to 1997....

, who would later become the first female President of the Council. Sandra Kanck

Sandra Kanck

Sandra Myrtho Kanck is a South Australian politician. She was an Australian Democrats member of the South Australian Legislative Council 1993-2009, and at the time of the announcement of her resignation in November 2008, her party's sole remaining member of any Australian parliament...

was the first female Democrat

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...

in 1993, and Ann Bressington

Ann Bressington

Ann Bressington is an Australian politician. She was elected to the South Australian Legislative Council at the 2006 South Australian election as Nick Xenophon's running mate on his independent No Pokies ticket...

was the first female independent

Independent (politician)

In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

in 2006.

List of women in the South Australian Legislative Council

Names in bold indicate women who have been appointed as Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries during their time in Parliament. Names in italics indicate entry into Parliament through a by-election or by appointment and * symbolises members that have sat as members in both the Legislative Council and the 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:...

Name	Party	Period of service
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...	LCL Liberal and Country League The Liberal and Country League was a major political party in South Australia throughout its forty year existence. Thirty-four years were spent in government, in part due to the electoral malapportionment known as the Playmander, introduced after coming to power.Created on 9 June 1932 as the... /Liberal Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	7 March 1959 – 10 July 1979 (retired)
Anne Levy Anne Levy Judith Anne Winstanley Levy AO is a former Australian politician. She was a Labor member of the South Australian Legislative Council from 1975 to 1997....	Labor Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...	12 July 1975 – 10 October 1997 (retired)
Barbara Wiese	Labor Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...	15 September 1979 – 15 September 1995 (resigned)
Diana Laidlaw Diana Laidlaw Diana Laidlaw was a South Australian Liberal politician, an elected member of the Legislative Council and held several ministerial posts.- Biography :...	Liberal Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	6 November 1982 – 6 June 2003 (resigned)
Carolyn Pickles	Labor Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...	7 December 1985 – 8 February 2002 (retired)
Bernice Pfitzner Bernice Pfitzner Bernice Swee Lian Pfitzner, née Tu is a former Australian politician and member of the South Australian Legislative Council....	Liberal Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	23 October 1990 – 10 October 1997 (defeated)
Caroline Schaefer Caroline Schaefer Caroline Veronica Schaefer is an Australian politician, and a Liberal Party of Australia member of the South Australian Legislative Council from 1993 to 2010....	Liberal Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	1 August 1993 – 20 March 2010 (retired)
Sandra Kanck Sandra Kanck Sandra Myrtho Kanck is a South Australian politician. She was an Australian Democrats member of the South Australian Legislative Council 1993-2009, and at the time of the announcement of her resignation in November 2008, her party's sole remaining member of any Australian parliament...	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...	11 December 1993 – 30 January 2009 (resigned)
Carmel Zollo Carmel Zollo Carmelina "Carmel" Zollo is an Australian politician, and an Australian Labor Party member of the South Australian Legislative Council since 1997. She was re-elected for a second term in the 2006 election....	Labor Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...	11 October 1997 –
Gail Gago Gail Gago Gail Elizabeth Gago is an Australian politician, and an Australian Labor Party member of the South Australian Legislative Council since being elected in 2002...	Labor Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...	9 February 2002 –
Kate Reynolds Kate Reynolds Kathryn Joy "Kate" Reynolds was an Australian politician. She was an Australian Democrats member of the South Australian Legislative Council from 2003 to 2006....	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...	17 February 2003 – 17 March 2006 (defeated)
Michelle Lensink Michelle Lensink Jacqueline Michelle Ann Lensink is an Australian politician and, since 26 June 2003, a Liberal Party of Australia member in the South Australian Legislative Council.- Education :...	Liberal Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	26 June 2003 –
Ann Bressington Ann Bressington Ann Bressington is an Australian politician. She was elected to the South Australian Legislative Council at the 2006 South Australian election as Nick Xenophon's running mate on his independent No Pokies ticket...	No Pokies No Pokies No Pokies is an independent South Australian Legislative Council ticket that contested the 1997, 2002, and 2006 statewide legislative council elections...	18 March 2006 –
Tammy Franks	Greens Australian Greens The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, is an Australian green political party.The party was formed in 1992; however, its origins can be traced to the early environmental movement in Australia and the formation of the United Tasmania Group , the first Green party in the world, which...	20 March 2010 –
Jing Lee Jing Lee Jing Shyuan Lee is an Australian politician elected to the South Australian Legislative Council as a Liberal Party candidate at the 2010 state election. She was formerly the president of the Asia Pacific Business Council for Women.-Early Life:...	Liberal Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	20 March 2010 –
Kelly Vincent Kelly Vincent Kelly Leah Vincent is an Australian playwright, actress and politician elected to the eleventh and last seat for an 8-year term in the South Australian Legislative Council at the 2010 state election for the Dignity for Disability party....	Dignity for Disability	20 March 2010 –

List of women in the South Australian Legislative Council

See also