Australia: The Slow Road to Parliament

Australia was once at the forefront of women’s political rights, but these pioneering achievements have been slow to translate into parliamentary and political representation. While many strong and capable women have served in parliament and in political leadership roles, women still comprise only a third of Australia’s national, state and territory lower or single houses where government is formed. In this chapter, McCann and Sawer focus on how governments across the political spectrum have retreated from a broad strategic policy framework on gender equality in favor of specific domestic and international objectives, reinforcing the public perception that gender equality has been achieved.