Their place is in the House
TASMANIA’S Parliament now has a higher proportion of women in it than in any other state, following Jo Siejka’s win in the Pembroke Upper House byelection last weekend.
Of the 40 members in the state’s Upper and Lower houses, 17 — or 42.5 per cent — are women, including two of the three party leaders.
TASMANIA’S Parliament is more gender diverse than any other state Parliament in Australia, Mercury analysis reveals.
Of the 40 members in the state’s Upper and Lower houses, 42.5 per cent are women.
The figure has been lauded by experts and political figures, but most say there is still work to be done.
Tasmania’s female representation level compares with New South Wales’ 26.6 per cent, Queensland’s 28 per cent, Western Australia’s 30.5 per cent, and South Australia’s 24.6 per cent.
Victoria had the next highest level of female representation, at 39 per cent of 128 MPs.
The Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory have 44 per cent and 52 per cent respectively, with each Parliament housing 25 seats.
University of Tasmania political scientist Kate Crowley said the 42.5 per cent figure was an exceptional achievement.
“This is extraordinary, you don’t see this amount of representation of women in Australian parliaments,” Associate Professor Crowley said.
“We’ll have to see past the next election how it shakes out, but if we want to consolidate our gains here then we have to go for preselecting quality women into safe positions on tickets and give them good jobs.”
Political scientist Richard Eccleston said Tasmania’s comparatively high number of female MPs may be partly because of the Hare-Clark voting system, where a party puts forward a range of candidates and electors can choose their order of preference.
“It’s really important for the health and legitimacy of democracy that parliament reflects the diversity of a community,” Professor Eccleston said.
Earlier this year, Labor’s Rebecca White and Michelle O’Byrne followed in the footsteps of Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and her deputy Jackie Trad, as well as former NSW premier Kristina Keneally and deputy Carmel Tebbutt as an all-female leadership team.
Ms White said the idea that members of the community could have concerns about an all-female team was not a consideration when the party decided to back the duo.
“Our caucus sat down following [former leader] Bryan [Green’s] resignation and nominated me and endorsed me as the leader because they think I can do the job, and I’m very humbled by that, but at no point did we consider that it shouldn’t be something that we do because it would mean we have a leader and a deputy leader who are both female,” Ms White said.
“It shouldn’t be a consideration, because we’ve had male leaders and deputy leaders for as long as people can remember.
“It shouldn’t be seen as unusual that we have a female leader and deputy leader as well.”
Ms White said Labor rules dictated 50-50 representation, which the party had achieved in both candidates and elected members.
“I think the community is far more progressive than it’s ever been, I think the community is keen to support the best candidates, and we’ve seen recent elections where the best candidate has been a woman,” Ms White said.
“The thing that I’ve really found has changed in the Tasmanian community is that the community wants to have the best representatives possible, and if they have the choice of electing a woman they will elect a woman.
“For them it’s not so much about whether they’re female or male, it’s about whether or not they can do a good job.”
Premier Will Hodgman has spoken of the need to increase the participation of women in politics.
He appointed Tasmania’s first female speaker, Elise Archer, first female governor, Kate Warner, and Jacquie Petrusma as Minister for Women.
However, there are just two women in the Government’s eight-member Cabinet, and women hold just four of the Liberals’ 15 House of Assembly seats.
Assoc Prof Crowley said Mr Hodgman would have a “fairly good handle” on perceiving the merit of the Liberal Party’s female politicians, but there may have been other factors at play in deciding the Cabinet make-up, such as ensuring regions were fairly represented.
“At the administrative level the Liberal Party has really got to preselect more women, it’s got to show that it appreciates the value of women in politics to the extent that the community does, which is very highly,” Assoc Prof Crowley said.
“It needs to select women of quality and put them in positions where they can actually achieve power instead of putting them in token positions and giving them token jobs
when they’re in Parliament.”
Mr Hodgman said he had set a target for the Liberal Party to reach equal representation in Parliament.
“I am committed to increasing the participation of women in politics and leadership positions in government, for, to do so means that we better reflect the community we represent,” he said.
The party has recently preselected Hobart Lord Mayor Sue Hickey to run in Denison, replacing the retiring Matthew Groom as a high-profile candidate.
Minister for Women Jacquie Petrusma said the need for a family-friendly work environment in politics was being increasingly recognised, with women now able to breastfeed in the House.
“I acknowledge there are still inequities which we are working to fix and I will continue to strive to ensure women are given the same opportunities to reach their full potential in our community.”
All three Greens MPs are women, after Bass MP Andrea Dawkins and Franklin MP Rosalie Woodruff were elected on recounts after the resignations of Kim Booth and Nick McKim.
Party leader Cassy O’Connor said she was “stoked” to be a female party leader representing a “small but mighty” team of Green women.
However, Ms O’Connor said in recent years one male MP in the Tasmanian Parliament could often be heard cat- calling women, or calling them offensive names.
“The election of more and more women has helped challenge those old, archaic attitudes and create a more respectful environment in Parliament,” she said. “We should be proud of ourselves, as Tasmanians, that we are so close to equal representation.”
Ms O’Connor said equal representation was a matter of human rights.
She said all women and girls had the right to be treated equally and with respect.
“That fundamental truth should be reflected in all our public institutions including our Parliaments,” she said.
“Australia will not be an equal society while sexist, misogynistic attitudes and unconscious bias prevail.
“An important step towards the cultural shift needed is to ensure women are equally represented in Parliament and young women look to politics as a career where they can make a difference.”
This is extraordinary, you don’t see t this amount of representation of women in Australian parliaments University of Tasmania Political scientist KATE CROWLEY