Women in the Australian Senate

There have been 121 women in the Australian Senate since the establishment of the Parliament of Australia. Women have had the right to stand for federal parliament since 1902, and there were three female candidates for the Senate at the 1903 federal election (Vida Goldstein, Nellie Martel, and Mary Moore-Bentley). However, it was not until Dorothy Tangney's victory at the 1943 federal election that a woman was elected. Since then, all states and territories have had multiple female senators – in chronological order: Western Australia (1943), Queensland (1947), Victoria (1950), South Australia (1955), Tasmania (1975), the Australian Capital Territory (1975), New South Wales (1987), and the Northern Territory (1998).

History

The passage of the '' Commonwealth Franchise Act'' allowed women to both vote and stand for election to the Parliament of Australia.Women in South and Western Australia voted in the 1901 election.
Indigenous Australian women did not achieve federal franchise in all jurisdictions until 1962, and were not required by law to enrol to vote until 1983. Three women stood unsuccessfully as independents or as representatives of minor parties for election to the Senate for the 1903 election. Nellie Martel and Mary Ann Moore-Bentley of New South Wales ran, each earning around 18,000 votes, with the leading man winning roughly 190,000 votes. Vida Goldstein, from Victoria, ran and gained 51,497 votes, which was roughly half the votes the winning man gained. She then ran unsuccessfully again in 1910 and 1917 after a short stint attempting to breakthrough into the House of Representatives. In 1919, Mary McMahon of NSW ran unsuccessfully, and was not followed by another woman candidate until 1934 saw Lillie Beirne (NSW) and Joanna Helbach (QLD) run. Following this, Jeanne Young of Western Australia ran in 1937 and Adela Walsh (NSW) and Dorothy Tangney (WA) ran in 1940. However, women were not successful in entering federal politics until World War II. The major parties did not endorse any female candidates for the Senate before the War.

The first woman to be elected to the Senate was representative Dorothy Tangney in 1943; she represented Western Australia. Following Tangney's entry into politics, the Senate has continuously had women members. However, despite the success, the number of women running continued to fluctuate drastically. Prior to 1981, the proportion of women running as candidates peaked at 20% in 1977 but had a low of only 1.3% in 1953. Between the years 1943 and 1969, there were only five elections of women and Enid Lyons accounted for three of these in the House of Representatives. Despite this, 41 women were elected into the Senate between 1943 and 1980. The proportion of women in the Senate can be seen over a long time period to have drastically grown, with the 1948 Senate being composed of 5.6% women, 14.1% in 1980, 23.7% in 1990, 28.9% in 2002, and 53% in 2021.

The second woman elected to the Senate, Annabelle Rankin, also achieved a number of firsts for women: she was the first female Whip, and she was the first woman with a federal portfolio when she became Minister for Housing in 1966. In 1975, Margaret Guilfoyle became the first female cabinet minister with a portfolio. In 1996 Margaret Reid was the first woman elected as President of the Senate.

Women in the Senate have made significant changes to Australian law which have benefited women. For example, a private member's bill written by Senator Susan Ryan was crucial to the development of the ''Sex Discrimination Act 1984'', the ''Affirmative Action (Equal Employment Opportunity for Women) Act 1986'', the ''Public Service Reform Act 1984'' and the ''Equal Employment Opportunity (Commonwealth Authorities) Act 1987''.

With the appointment of Sarah Henderson to the Senate on 11 September 2019, the number of women in the chamber was equal to the number of men for the first time in history. With the resignation of Richard Di Natale and the appointment of Lidia Thorpe on 4 September 2020, the number of women (39) exceeded the number of men (37) for the first time.

List of women in the Australian Senate

Names in bold type indicate Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries.
Names in ''italics'' indicate appointments made under section 15 of the Constitution, or through disqualification. Names marked with an asterisk (*) also served in the House of Representatives. Where no closing date is shown, the Senator's term of service is unexpired.

Timeline

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DateFormat = yyyy
Period = from:1940 till:2025
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1940

Colors =
id:LP value:blue legend: Liberal Party of Australia
id:AL value:red legend: Australian Labor Party
id:NP value:teal legend: National (Country) Party of Australia
id:AD value:orange legend: Australian Democrats
id:ND value:yelloworange legend: Nuclear Disarmament Party
id:AG value:brightgreen legend: Australian Greens/Greens WA
id:ID value:gray(0.6) legend: Independent

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barset:Senators5
bar:Lees
barset:Senators6
bar:Collins
barset:Senators7
bar:Pratt
barset:Senators8
bar:Waters
barset:Senators9
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bar:Gichuhi
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from:1943 till:1968 color:AL text:"Dorothy Tangney (1943–1968)"
from:1947 till:1971 color:LP text:" Annabelle Rankin (1947–1971)"
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from:1950 till:1955 color:LP text:"
from:1955 till:1962 color:NP text:" Agnes Robertson (1950–1962)"
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from:1950 till:1971 color:LP text:"Ivy Wedgwood (1950–1971)"
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from:1955 till:1965 color:LP text:
from:1968 till:1974 color:LP text:"Nancy Buttfield (1955–1965, 1968–1974)"
barset:Senators2
from:1962 till:1968 color:LP text:"Marie Breen (1962–1968)"
from:1971 till:1987 color:LP text:"Margaret Guilfoyle (1971–1987)"
from:1974 till:1987 color:AL text:" Ruth Coleman (1974–1987)"
from:1974 till:1981 color:AL text:" Jean Melzer (1974–1981)
from:1974 till:1984 color:LP text:" Kathy Sullivan (1974–1984)"
from:1975 till:1988 color:AL text:"Susan Ryan (1975–1988)"
from:1975 till:1993 color:LP text:" Shirley Walters (1975–1993)"
bar:Haines
from:1977 till:1978 color:AD text:
from:1981 till:1990 color:AD text:"Janine Haines (1977–1978, 1981–1990)"
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from:1980 till:1985 color:AL text:" Jean Hearn (1980–1985)"
from:1981 till:1993 color:NP text:" Flo Bjelke-Petersen (1981–1993)"
from:1981 till:2003 color:LP text:" Margaret Reid (1981–2003)"
from:1981 till:1993 color:AL text:" Patricia Giles (1981–1993)"
from:1983 till:2002 color:AL text:"Rosemary Crowley (1983–2002)"
from:1983 till:1999 color:AL text:" Margaret Reynolds (1983–1999)"
from:1983 till:1995 color:AL text:" Olive Zakharov (1983–1995)"
from:1984 till:2005 color:LP text:" Susan Knowles (1984–2005)"
from:1984 till:2007 color:LP text:"Amanda Vanstone (1984–2007)"
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from:1985 till:1986 color:ND text:"
from:1986 till:1990 color:ID text:"
from:1990 till:1992 color:AG text:"Jo Vallentine (1985–1992)"
barset:Senators4
from:1986 till:2002 color:LP text:"Jocelyn Newman (1986–2002)"
bar:Powell
from:1986 till:1992 color:AD text:"
from:1992 till:1993 color:ID text:" Janet Powell (1986–1993)"
bar:West
from:1987 till:1987 color:AL text:
from:1990 till:2002 color:AL text:"Sue West (1987, 1990–2002)"
barset:Senators5
from:1987 till:1994 color:LP text:" Bronwyn Bishop (1987–1994)"
from:1987 till:1990 color:AD text:" Jean Jenkins (1987–1990)"
from:1987 till:2008 color:LP text:" Kay Patterson (1987–2008)"
from:1988 till:1990 color:ID text:" Irina Dunn (1988–1990)"
bar:Lees
from:1990 till:2002 color:AD text:
from:2002 till:2005 color:ID text:"Meg Lees (1990–2005)"
barset:Senators6
from:1990 till:2002 color:AD text:" Vicki Bourne (1990–2002)"
from:1990 till:1997 color:AD text:"Cheryl Kernot (1990–1997)"
from:1991 till:1993 color:AD text:" Karin Sowada (1991–1993)"
from:1992 till:1996 color:AG text:" Christabel Chamarette (1992–1996)"
from:1993 till:1999 color:AG text:"Dee Margetts (1993–1999)"
from:1993 till:2011 color:LP text:" Judith Troeth (1993–2011)"
from:1993 till:2005 color:AL text:"Kay Denman (1993–2005)"
from:1994 till:1998 color:AL text:"Belinda Neal (1994–1998)"
bar:Collins
from:1995 till:2005 color:AL text:
from:2008 till:2019 color:AL text:"Jacinta Collins (1995–2005, 2008–2019)"
barset:Senators7
from:1995 till:2008 color:AD text:" Natasha Stott Despoja (1995–2008)"
from:1996 till:2015 color:AL text:"Kate Lundy (1996–2015)"
from:1996 till:2005 color:AL text:" Sue Mackay (1996–2005)"
from:1996 till:2008 color:AD text:"Lyn Allison (1996–2008)"
from:1996 till:2011 color:LP text:"Helen Coonan (1996–2011)"
from:1996 till:2007 color:LP text:"Jeannie Ferris (1996–2007)"
from:1996 till:2002 color:AL text:" Brenda Gibbs (1996–2002)"
from:1997 till:2023 color:LP text:"Marise Payne (1997–present)"
from:1997 till:1999 color:LP text:"Karen Synon (1997–1999)"
from:1998 till:2013 color:AL text:" Trish Crossin (1998–2013)"
from:1999 till:2016 color:AL text:"Jan McLucas (1999–2016)"
barset:skip

Proportion of women in the Senate

Numbers and proportions are as they were directly after the beginning of Senate terms and do not take into account deaths, resignations, appointments, defections or other changes in membership. As senators typically serve six-year terms, in the absence of a double dissolution, the numbers of female senators overlap two "terms". State-based Coalition parties that caucus with one of the major parties ( Liberal National Party, Country Liberal Party) have been included in the Liberals' or Nationals' totals.

See also

*Women and government in Australia
* Women in the Australian House of Representatives

Notes

References

*
*

{{Women in national government

Senators
Women, Senate
*
Women