Women in the Australian House of Representatives


There have been 133 women in the Australian House of Representatives since the establishment of the Parliament of Australia. Women have had the right to both vote and sit in parliament since 1902. The first woman to run for the House of Representatives was Selina Anderson at the 1903 election for Dalley, but the first woman elected to the House was Dame Enid Lyons at the 1943 election for Darwin. At that election, the first woman member of the Senate was also elected, and there have been women members of the Senate continuously ever since. By contrast, the House of Representatives has had women members continuously only since 1980.
All states and territories have been represented by women in the House of Representatives. In the 45th Australian Parliament there were 44 women.

List


ImageSize = width:1100 height:auto barincrement:12
PlotArea = top:10 bottom:80 right:200 left:20
AlignBars = early
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:UA value:darkblue legend: United Australia Party
id:NP value:teal legend: National Party of Australia
id:NX value:orange legend: Nick Xenophon Team/Centre Alliance
id:ON value:yellow legend: Pauline Hanson's One Nation
id:ID value:gray legend: Independent
Legend = columns:3 left:150 top:50 columnwidth:200
BarData =
bar:Lyons
barset:MHRs
bar:Child
barset:MHRs2
bar:Bailey
barset:MHRs3
bar:Gambaro
barset:MHRs4
bar:Hanson
barset:MHRs5
bar:Jackson
barset:MHRs6
bar:Banks
barset:MHRs7
PlotData=
width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift: anchor:till
bar:Lyons
from:1943 till:1944 color:UA text:"
from:1944 till:1951 color:LP text:"Enid Lyons "
barset:MHRs
from:1946 till:1949 color:ID text:"Doris Blackburn "
from:1966 till:1969 color:LP text:"Kay Brownbill "
bar:Child
from:1974 till:1975 color:AL text:"
from:1980 till:1990 color:AL text:"Joan Child "
barset:MHRs2
from:1980 till:1993 color:AL text:"Elaine Darling "
from:1980 till:1995 color:AL text:"Ros Kelly "
from:1983 till:1996 color:AL text:"Wendy Fatin "
from:1983 till:1987 color:AL text:"Helen Mayer "
from:1983 till:1996 color:AL text:"Jeannette McHugh "
from:1984 till:1993 color:AL text:"Carolyn Jakobsen
from:1984 till:2001 color:LP text:"Kathy Sullivan "
from:1987 till:1996 color:AL text:"Mary Crawford "
from:1987 till:1990 color:AL text:"Elizabeth Harvey "
bar:Bailey
from:1990 till:1993 color:LP text:"
from:1996 till:2010 color:LP text:"Fran Bailey "
barset:MHRs3
from:1990 till:2004 color:AL text:"Janice Crosio "
from:1990 till:2004 color:LP text:"Chris Gallus "
from:1993 till:1996 color:AL text:"Maggie Deahm "
from:1993 till:1996 color:AL text:"Mary Easson "
from:1993 till:1996 color:AL text:"Marjorie Henzell "
from:1993 till:2013 color:LP text:"Judi Moylan "
from:1993 till:1996 color:AL text:"Silvia Smith "
from:1993 till:2004 color:LP text:"Trish Worth "
from:1994 till:2007 color:AL text:"Carmen Lawrence "
from:1994 till:2016 color:LP text:"Bronwyn Bishop "
from:1996 till:2007 color:LP text:"Trish Draper "
from:1996 till:2010 color:AL text:"Annette Ellis "
from:1996 till:2007 color:LP text:"Kay Elson "
bar:Gambaro
from:1996 till:2007 color:LP text:"
from:2010 till:2016 color:LP text:"Teresa Gambaro "
barset:MHRs4
from:1996 till:2013 color:LP text:"Joanna Gash "
from:1996 till:1998 color:LP text:"Elizabeth Grace "
bar:Hanson
from:1996 till:1997 color:ID text:"
from:1997 till:1998 color:ON text:"Pauline Hanson "
barset:MHRs5
from:1996 till:1998 color:LP text:"Susan Jeanes "
from:1996 till:1998 color:LP text:"Ricky Johnston "
from:1996 till:2007 color:NP text:"De-Anne Kelly "
from:1996 till:2007 color:LP text:"Jackie Kelly "
from:1996 till:2019 color:AL text:"Jenny Macklin "
from:1996 till:2016 color:LP text:"Sharman Stone "
from:1996 till:2010 color:LP text:"Danna Vale "
from:1996 till:1998 color:LP text:"Andrea West "
from:1998 till:2019 color:LP text:"Julie Bishop "
from:1998 till:2016 color:AL text:"Anna Burke "
from:1998 till:2001 color:AL text:"Jane Gerick "
from:1998 till:2013 color:AL text:"Julia Gillard "
from:1998 till:2016 color:AL text:"Jill Hall "
from:1998 till:2007 color:AL text:"Kelly Hoare "
from:1998 till:2010 color:NP text:"Kay Hull "
from:1998 till:2010 color:AL text:"Julia Irwin "
from:1998 till:2001 color:AL text:"Cheryl Kernot "
from:1998 till:2013 color:AL text:"Kirsten Livermore "
from:1998 till:2004 color:AL text:"Jann McFarlane "
from:1998 till:2010 color:LP text:"Margaret May "
from:1998 till:2004 color:AL text:"Michelle O'Byrne "
from:1998 till:2020 color:AL text:"Tanya Plibersek "
from:1998 till:2013 color:AL text:"Nicola Roxon "
from:2000 till:2007 color:AL text:"Ann Corcoran "
from:2001 till:2001 color:AL text:"Leonie Short "
from:2001 till:2010 color:AL text:"Jennie George "
from:2001 till:2013 color:AL text:"Sharon Grierson "
bar:Jackson
from:2001 till:2004 color:AL text:"
from:2007 till:2010 color:AL text:"Sharryn Jackson "
barset:MHRs6
from:2001 till:2020 color:AL text:"Catherine King "
from:2001 till:2020 color:LP text:"Sussan Ley "
from:2001 till:2013 color:LP text:"Sophie Mirabella "
from:2001 till:2020 color:AL text:"Maria Vamvakinou "
from:2004 till:2020 color:AL text:"Sharon Bird "
from:2004 till:2020 color:AL text:"Justine Elliot "
from:2004 till:2019 color:AL text:"Kate Ellis "
from:2004 till:2016 color:LP text:"Louise Markus "
from:2004 till:2020 color:AL text:"Julie Owens "
from:2007 till:2010 color:AL text:"Jodie Campbell "
from:2007 till:2020 color:AL text:"Julie Collins "
from:2007 till:2013 color:AL text:"Yvette D'Ath "
from:2007 till:2020 color:LP text:"Nola Marino "
from:2007 till:2010 color:AL text:"Maxine McKew "
from:2007 till:2010 color:AL text:"Belinda Neal "
from:2007 till:2016 color:AL text:"Melissa Parke "
from:2007 till:2010 color:AL text:"Kerry Rea "
from:2007 till:2020 color:AL text:"Amanda Rishworth "
from:2007 till:2013 color:AL text:"Janelle Saffin "
from:2009 till:2019 color:LP text:"Kelly O'Dwyer "
from:2010 till:2020 color:LP text:"Karen Andrews "
from:2010 till:2019 color:AL text:"Gai Brodtmann "
from:2010 till:2016 color:LP text:"Natasha Griggs "
from:2010 till:2013 color:AL text:"Deborah O'Neill "
from:2010 till:2019 color:LP text:"Jane Prentice "
from:2010 till:2020 color:AL text:"Michelle Rowland "
from:2010 till:2013 color:AL text:"Laura Smyth "
from:2013 till:2020 color:AL text:"Lisa Chesters "
from:2013 till:2020 color:AL text:"Sharon Claydon "
from:2013 till:2019 color:LP text:"Sarah Henderson "
from:2013 till:2020 color:NP text:"Michelle Landry "
from:2013 till:2016 color:AL text:"Alannah MacTiernan "
from:2013 till:2019 color:ID text:"Cathy McGowan "
from:2013 till:2016 color:LP text:"Karen McNamara "
from:2013 till:2020 color:AL text:"Clare O'Neil "
from:2013 till:2020 color:LP text:"Melissa Price "
from:2013 till:2020 color:AL text:"Joanne Ryan "
from:2013 till:2016 color:LP text:"Fiona Scott "
from:2013 till:2019 color:LP text:"Ann Sudmalis "
from:2013 till:2020 color:LP text:"Lucy Wicks "
from:2014 till:2020 color:AL text:"Terri Butler "
from:2016 till:2020 color:AL text:"Anne Aly "
bar:Banks
from:2016 till:2018 color:LP text:"
from:2018 till:2019 color:ID text:"Julia Banks "
barset:MHRs7
from:2016 till:2020 color:AL text:"Linda Burney "
from:2016 till:2020 color:LP text:"Nicolle Flint "
from:2016 till:2019 color:AL text:"Emma Husar "
from:2016 till:2019 color:AL text:"Justine Keay "
from:2016 till:2020 color:AL text:"Madeleine King "
from:2016 till:2019 color:AL text:"Susan Lamb "
from:2016 till:2020 color:AL text:"Emma McBride "
from:2016 till:2019 color:AL text:"Cathy O'Toole "
from:2016 till:2020 color:NX text:"Rebekha Sharkie "
from:2016 till:2020 color:AL text:"Anne Stanley "
from:2016 till:2020 color:AL text:"Meryl Swanson "
from:2016 till:2020 color:AL text:"Susan Templeman "
from:2018 till:2020 color:AL text:"Ged Kearney "
from:2018 till:2019 color:ID text:"Kerryn Phelps "
from:2019 till:2020 color:LP text:"Katie Allen "
from:2019 till:2020 color:LP text:"Bridget Archer "
from:2019 till:2020 color:LP text:"Angie Bell "
from:2019 till:2020 color:AL text:"Libby Coker "
from:2019 till:2020 color:ID text:"Helen Haines "
from:2019 till:2020 color:LP text:"Celia Hammond "
from:2019 till:2020 color:LP text:"Gladys Liu "
from:2019 till:2020 color:LP text:"Fiona Martin "
from:2019 till:2020 color:LP text:"Melissa McIntosh "
from:2019 till:2020 color:AL text:"Peta Murphy "
from:2019 till:2020 color:AL text:"Alicia Payne "
from:2019 till:2020 color:AL text:"Fiona Phillips "
from:2019 till:2020 color:ID text:"Zali Steggall "
from:2019 till:2020 color:AL text:"Kate Thwaites "
from:2019 till:2020 color:NP text:"Anne Webster "
from:2019 till:2020 color:AL text:"Anika Wells "
from:2020 till:2020 color:AL text:"Kristy McBain "
barset:skip

Proportion of women in the House

Numbers and proportions are as they were directly after the relevant election and do not take into account by-elections, defections or other changes in membership. State-based Coalition parties that caucus with one of the major parties have been included in the Liberals' or Nationals' totals.