Marian Sawer is head of the Political Science Program at the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University. She has published widely on women and politics in Australia and has a new book Waltzing Matilda: Feminism and Social Liberalism in Australia forthcoming this year. She is currently heading a three-year democratic audit of Australia funded by the Australian Research Council and is on the organising committee of the national conference being held to celebrate the suffrage centenary in June.