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Statistics of South Australian women in Parliament

The opening of the new session of Parliament was front page news when the first two women elected to the South Australian Parliament took their seats. From left Joyce Steele, the Premier Sir Thomas Playford, the Sergeant-at-Arms Mr A F Dodd, the Speaker Mr Teusner and Jessie Cooper. Photograph from 10 June 1959 courtesy The Advertiser Newspapers Ltd.

Featured below are four lists of women candidates and women members of the South Australian Parliament and Federal Parliament prepared by Helen Jones from In her own name: a history of women in South Australia from 1836 revised edition (Adelaide, Wakefield Press, 1994). The lists are reproduced here with kind permission from Helen Jones. The names of South Australian women members of Parliament since 1994 have been updated by the SA Research and Family History team at the State Library of South Australia.

Women candidates for the South Australian Parliament to 1959
Women elected to the South Australian Parliament 1959—

South Australian Women candidates for Federal Seats to 1958
South Australian Women elected to Federal Parliament 1958—

Proportion of Women in Australian Federal and State Parliaments April 1996
Representation of women under different electoral systems in Australian Federal and State Parliaments April 1996

Women candidates for the South Australian Parliament to 1959

The list of women candidates for the South Australian Parliament to 1959 includes the percentage of votes acquired by each candidate as identified by Robert Layton Reid in Women politicians in South Australia 1959 (MLSA D3756 (T).

Susan Magarey has observed of the list of women who stood unsuccessfully for the South Australian Parliament up to 1959 in Suffrage and beyond: international feminist perspectives

Of the nineteen female candidates for election to the South Australian Parliament between 1894 and 1959, only six were endorsed by the mainstream political parties. Two others ran as Independent Liberal and Unendorsed Liberal, a third as Anti-Communist Labor. The remaining ten included three who had the support of specifically women's organisations: the Democratic Women's Association formed on a proportional representation platform in 1937 by Jeanne Young, a collaborator with Catherine Spence in her effective voting campaign, and the Women's Non-Party Political Association, which also supported proportional representation. The rest campaigned simply as Independents. For these women, clearly, the machinery of the malestream political parties, coupled with the preferential voting system, operated to exclude women.

Women candidates for the South Australian Parliament to 1959

Date

1918
1918
1924
1927
1929
1930
1938
1938
1938
1938
1941
1941
1941
1944
1946
1947
1948
1953
1956
1956
1959
1959
1959
1959
1959
1959

Candidate

Selina Siggins
Jeanne Young
Agnes Goode
Agnes Goode
Ruth Ravenscroft
Leonora Polkinghorne
Millicent Bowering
Ruth Ravenscroft
Marie Skitch
Jeanne young
Ada Bromham
Bessie Mountford
Janette Octoman
Patience Howard
Ethel Wache
Ethel Wache
Patience Howard
Edwardine Preston
frances Ryan
Susan Critchley
Jeanette Davis
May Mills
Doreen Pattison
Margaret Scott
Joyce Steele
Jessie Cooper

Seat

Adelaide
Sturt
Adelaide
Adelaide
Central no.1
Sturt
Norwood
Prospect
Thebarton
Burnside
Unley
Hindmarsh
Flinders
Burnside
Alexandra
Alexandra
Central No2 LC
Enfield
Unley
Murray
Gawler
Edwardstown
Torrens
Central no 2 LC
Burnside
Central No 2 LC

Party

Independent
Independent
Liberal
Liberal Country Pact
Independent
I W N-P Assoc
I W N-P Assoc
Independent
ALP
Democratic
Independent
Independent
Unendorsed Liberal
ALP
Independent
Independent
ALP
Liberal
DLP
DLP
LCL
LCL
ALP
ALP
LCL
LCL

% of votes

6.5%
7%
20%
27%
0.7%
3.6%
19%
2%
30%
10%
25.7%
15%
8%
32.4%
12.6%
12.9%
30.7%
27.4%
7.4%
1.7%
38%
35.6%
40%
33.5%
57% elected
55.4% elected

Women elected to the South Australian Parliament 1959—

Members of the upper house are designated Leg Council.

Date

1959
1959
1968
1975
1977
1979
1982
1982
1982
1982
1985
1985
1989
1989
1993
1993
1993
1993
1993
1993
1993
1994
1994
1994
1994
1997
1997
1997
1997
1997
1997
1997
1997
2002
2002
2002
2002
2003

Candidate

Joyce Steele
Jessie Cooper
Molly Byrne
Anne Levy
Jennifer Adamson (1986 as Jennifer Cashmore)
Barbara Wiese
Heather Southcott
June Appleby
Susan Lenehan
Diana Laidlaw
Dianne Gayler
Carolyn Pickles
Colleen Hutchison
Dorothy Kotz
Bernice Pfitzner
Caroline Schaefer
Joan Hall
Annette Hurley
Sandra Kanck
Julie Grieg
Liz Penfold
Lorraine Rosenberg
Lea Stevens
Robyn Geraghty
Trish White
Frances Bedford
Lyn Breuer
Vini Ciccarello
Stephanie Key
Karlene Maywald
Jennifer Rankine
Gay Thompson
Carmel Zollo
Vickie Chapman
Gail Gago
Jane Lomax-Smith
Isobel Redmond
Kate Reynolds

Seat

Burnside
Central No. 2 Leg Council
Barossa
Leg Council
Coles
Leg Council
Mitcham (by-election)
Brighton
Mawson
Leg Council
Newland
Leg Council
Stuart
Newland
Leg Council (casual vacancy)
Leg Council (casual vacancy)
Coles
Napier
Leg Council
Reynell
Flinders
Kaurna
Elizabeth (by-election)
Torrens (by-election)
Taylor (by-election)
Florey
Giles
Norwood
Hanson
Chaffey
Wright
Reynell
Leg Council
Bragg
Leg Council
Adelaide
Heysen
Leg Council

Party

LCL
LCL
ALP
ALP
LIB
ALP
AD
ALP
ALP
LIB
ALP
ALP
ALP
LIB
LIB
AD
LIB
ALP
AD
LIB
LIB
LIB
ALP
ALP
ALP
ALP
ALP
ALP
ALP
NAT
ALP
ALP
ALP
LIB
ALP
ALP
LIB
AD

South Australian Women candidates for Federal Seats to 1958

Date

1931
1931
1937
1949
1955
1958

Candidate

Agnes Goode
Ruth Ravenscroft
Jeanne Young
Mary Smith
Nancy Buttfield
Susan Critchley

Seat

Adelaide
Senate
Senate
Senate
Senate
Angas

Party

Ind
Ind
Ind
Ind
LCL
DLP

South Australian Women elected to Federal Parliament 1958—

House of Representitives

Date

1966-69
1987-90
1990—
1993—
1996-98
1996—

Candidate

Kay Brownbill
Elizabeth Harvey
Christine Gallus
Trish Worth
Susan Jeanes
Trish Draper

Seat

Kingston
Hawker
Hawker
Adelaide
Kingston
Makin

Party

LCL
ALP
Lib
Lib
Lib
Lib

The Senate

Date

1955-65
1968-74
1977-78
1981-90
1983—
1984—
1990—
1996—
1996—

Candidate

Nancy Buttfield

Janine Haines

Rosemary Crowley
Amanda Vanstone
Meg Lees
Jeannie Ferris
Natasha Stott Despoja

Party

LCL

AD

ALP
LIB
AD
LIB
AD

The Final Report of the Joint Committee on Women in Parliament presented to the Parliament of South Australia on 29 May 1996 included statistical information on the numbers of women in the State and Federal Parliaments as at April 1996. (Parliamentary Paper 209 of 1996 page 4.)

Proportion of Women in Australian Federal and State Parliaments April 1996

Jurisdiction

Federal
New South Wales
Victoria
Queensland
Western Australia
South Australia
Tasmania
Australian Capital Territory
Northern Territory

Total Members

224
141
132
89
91
69
54
17
35

Total Women

43
29
24
13
17
15
10
6
4

Percentage of Women

19%
21%
18%
15%
19%
22%
19%
35%
11%

Representation of women under different electoral systems in Australian Federal and State Parliaments April 1996

The Final Report of the Joint Committee on Women in Parliament presented to the Parliament of South Australia on 29 May 1996 included statistical information on the numbers of women in the State and Federal Parliaments as at April 1996. (Parliamentary Paper 209 of 1996 page 16.)

 
   
 
 

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