It’s remarkable the strides women worldwide are making in the world of politics. In developing countries, until some years ago, women were not permitted by law to vote. One would think this would be different in the more developed parts of the world. Take Australia for instance, until a hundred and thirty one years ago, women were entirely absent from the political scene. They may have made their husbands coffee, tied their ties and helped them into coats as they set off for a day at the Federal Parliament House and that was it. No dabbling in politics whatsoever for women.
The emergence of women unto the political scene was pioneered by Henrietta Dugale, a Victorian woman who formed the first Victorian Women’s Suffrage Society in 1884. However, Australia being divided into colonies had different forms of these suffrage groups in the various colonies. To change this and to be further effective at pressing for women’s rights, the more unified version of these groups, the Australian Women’s Suffrage society was formed 5 years after the first group was inaugurated. Its aim was to educate these already elite men and women about a woman’s right to vote and stand for parliament (to think that they were clueless about this before). This group was like an Australian female version of the freedom riders except that they didn’t actually go on cross county rides to spread their message. It was a group of upper-class women from all colonies of Australia; South Australia, Western Australia, New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and good old Tasmania. Other groups such as the women’s Christian Temperance Alliance and the Victorian Temperance Alliance were formed and these worked with the mother group in furthering the cause.
In 1891, women from these groups went on a door – to-door campaign to get as many people as possible to sign their petition to gain the right to vote for the Victorian women. Their petition, nicknamed the “Monster Petition” was 260 meters long and 20 cm wide, contained thirty-three thousand signatures and required several attendants to carry it into parliament when it was tabled in September 1891. Despite the unique features of this petition and the amount of work put into it, the exclusively male Victorian Upper House firmly refused to give the women the same right to vote and be voted for as men. South Australia was however more receptive to the message and the 1894, the women were given the right to not only vote but to stand for the colonial parliament. In 1897, Catherine Spence made Australian history as the first woman to stand political candidate in Australia. She stood as South Australia candidate to the Federal Convention, although told she could not sit even if she won.
Western Australia followed suit in 1899 when women there were also given the mandate to vote. In 1902, the Commonwealth Franchise Act passed, enabling all women in New South Wales (with the exception of Aboriginal women in some States) to vote for the Federal Parliament. From this time, women were also able to sit in Parliament. That same year women Australia-wide were granted suffrage in Commonwealth elections. Strangely, this meant that women in Victoria could legally vote in federal elections, but not state elections. Tasmania also gave its women the right to vote House of Assembly three years after New South Wales did. Qualifications for the right to vote for Upper House remained in place until 1968. 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.
Australian politics has however changed significantly in the last millennium in its tolerance of female involvement. Significantly in 2010-2011 (till the March 2011 state election) the city of Sydney was operating totally under 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 Quentin Bryce.
British-born Julia Gillard is the only woman to have served as Australia's Prime Minister.
Credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_and_government_in_Australia, http://www.aec.gov.au/elections/australian_electoral_history/milestone.htm
Thanks Edwina for your history of women in politics. It is interesting that women's suffrage in Australia came before suffrage rights in England (1928)!
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It's interesting that Australia is miles ahead of the U.S. in getting female representation in politics. I read that Australia has compulsory voting. I wonder if that makes a difference in affecting how female representation shapes out.
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