Discussion Leader: Marian Sawer

NOTE: This is an archive of our 2002 website. For current information, please see our updated site for 2003.

In 1902 most Australian women gained the right to vote and to stand for the national parliament. The situation for Indigenous women was more complex and it was not until 1962 that a uniform franchise was achieved. The suffragists invested high hopes in the power of the women's vote. They believed it would make politicians take women seriously and advance their projects for social reform. The new Commonwealth parliament did pass early legislation of great benefit to women. For most women who queued for their two sovereigns in 1909, when Commonwealth old-age pensions were first paid, this was the first time they had received equal pay. They were the majority of old-age pensioners and the sole beneficiaries of maternity allowances three years later.

However, it was 41 years before the first women entered the Commonwealth parliament (and almost another 30 before they were allowed to be Hansard reporters). Australia had the longest gap of any country between women gaining the right to stand for the national parliament and actually being able to sit in it. A number of reasons have been given to explain the length of the gap. They include the nature of the Australian Labor Party. In other countries parties of the left were more likely to put women into parliament than conservative parties. In Australia, however, trade unions had an unusually powerful role in labor party pre-selections compared with elsewhere. These trade unions were committed to the family wage rather than equal pay and did not see women as reliable representatives of their cause. Moreover, the strong Irish catholic influence within the party meant a very conservative gender ideology.

All this began to change in the 1970s, but it did hold Australia back and still means less women in national leadership roles than, for example, New Zealand. On the Inter-parliamentary Union's ranking of countries in terms of representation of women in national parliaments Australia ranks 20th while New Zealand ranks eighth. Of course New Zealand also now elects almost half of its members of parliament through proportional representation (PR), an electoral system generally more favourable to women's representation than those based on single-member constituencies. PR both encourages major parties to run gender-balanced tickets and also facilitates the representation of minor parties in which women are more likely to gain leadership positions (five out of the seven federal Australian Democrats leaders have been women). Currently one third of Labor parliamentarians around Australia are women compared with about 20 per cent of Liberal parliamentarians, 60 per cent of Green parliamentarians and 43 per cent of Australian Democrats.

Women's suffrage has not achieved the high hopes of a hundred years ago or the purifying of politics, but the presence of women in Australian parliaments has achieved some changes that can be discussed in this chat.

Sources:

Diane Sainsbury, 'Rights without seats: The Puzzle of women's legislative recruitment', in Marian Sawer (ed) Elections: Full, Free and Fair Sydney:Federation Press 2001 Marian Sawer, 'A matter of simple justice? Women and Parliamentary representation', in Marian Sawer and Gianni Zappalą, Speaking for the People: Representation in Australian Politics, Melbourne University Press, 2001.

TRUST THE WOMEN: THE NEXT HUNDRED YEARS -WOMEN'S CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION 2002
11-14 June 2002, Canberra

Trust the Women is a national conference that celebrates 100 years of Australian women's right to vote in federal elections and 40 years for the 'missing women' who were Indigenous women in some states. The conference promotes women's continuing and active involvement in political reform and Constitutional change.

- Hear what women have achieved through political action
- Identify what needs to be done next
- See how women can improve their lives through active citizenship
- Plan to change the political rules
- Update the Women's Charter for Political Reform
- Update the agenda set by the first Women's Constitutional Convention

This convention is being organised by the Australian Women's Constitutional Network (AWCN) which was established in 1998 to carry on the work which was started at the first Women's Convention in Parliament House. Organisations represented on the Canberra Coordinating Committee are Australian Federation of University Women, Australian Women Lawyers, Canberra YWCA, National Council of Women, National Women's Justice Coalition, Soroptimists of Canberra, WEL, and Women for an Australian Republic.

- Who should attend? -

Representatives of national and regional women's organisations and government women's units, academics, lawyers and individuals with an interest and commitment to women's active citizenship.

- The Program -

The convention will be a combination of plenary and workshop sessions starting at lunchtime on 11 June through to the afternoon of 13 June. A program of social activities is planned for 14 June for those who which to explore the delights of Canberra. A formal conference dinner will be held on 12 June to celebrate the exact centenary of the passing of the 1902 legislation about women's right to vote in federal elections in Australia.

For further information please contact Margaret Smith on lilylangtry@ozemail.com.au