Women in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly


There have been 53 women in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly since its establishment in 1890. Women have had the right to vote since 1899 and the right to stand as candidates since 1920.
The first successful female candidate for the Legislative Assembly was Edith Cowan, who was elected as the member for West Perth in 1921 representing the Nationalist Party of Australia. This was the first time a woman had won election anywhere in Australia. Cowan was defeated in 1924 but in 1925 May Holman was elected to the seat of Forrest in a by-election, becoming the first successful Labor woman in Australia. Holman was joined by Florence Cardell-Oliver of the Nationalist Party in 1936, who would become the first female cabinet minister. Cardell-Oliver's retirement in 1956 led to a period of absence for women, until June Craig of the Liberal Party was elected in 1974, since which time women have been continuously represented in the Assembly.
Hilda Turnbull was the first National Party woman elected to the Assembly in 1989, and only two women - Liz Constable and Janet Woollard - have been elected as independents. Adele Carles became the first Greens member of the Assembly in 2009, although she later quit the party. Only two Indigenous women have been elected to the Western Australia parliament, starting with Carol Martin in 2001.

List of women in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly

Names in bold indicate women who have been appointed as Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries during their time in Parliament. Names in italics indicate women who were first elected at a by-election. An asterisk indicates that the member also served in the Legislative Council.

Timeline


ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:12
PlotArea = top:10 bottom:80 right:200 left:20
AlignBars = early
DateFormat = yyyy
Period = from:1920 till:2020
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1920
Colors =
id:NA value:skyblue legend: Nationalist Party of Australia
id:AL value:red legend: Australian Labor Party
id:LP value:blue legend: Liberal Party of Australia
id:NP value:teal legend: National Party of Australia
id:AG value:brightgreen legend: Australian Greens
id:ID value:gray legend: Independent
Legend = columns:3 left:150 top:50 columnwidth:200
BarData =
barset:MLAs
bar:CardellOliver
barset:MLAs2
bar:Buchanan
barset:MLAs3
bar:Carles
barset:MLAs4
PlotData=
width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift: anchor:till
barset:MLAs
from:1921 till:1924 color:NA text:"Edith Cowan "
from:1925 till:1939 color:AL text:"May Holman "
bar:CardellOliver
from:1936 till:1945 color:NA text:"
from:1945 till:1956 color:LP text:"Florence Cardell-Oliver "
barset:MLAs2
from:1974 till:1983 color:LP text:"June Craig "
from:1983 till:1993 color:AL text:"Pam Beggs "
bar:Buchanan
from:1983 till:1991 color:AL text:"
from:1991 till:1992 color:ID text:"Pam Buchanan "
barset:MLAs3
from:1983 till:1996 color:AL text:"Yvonne Henderson "
from:1983 till:1993 color:AL text:"Jackie Watkins "
from:1986 till:1994 color:AL text:"Carmen Lawrence "
from:1986 till:1996 color:AL text:"Judyth Watson "
from:1989 till:2005 color:LP text:"Cheryl Edwardes "
from:1989 till:2001 color:NP text:"Hilda Turnbull "
from:1990 till:2008 color:AL text:"Judy Edwards "
from:1991 till:2013 color:ID text:"Liz Constable "
from:1993 till:1996 color:AL text:"Kay Hallahan "
from:1993 till:2001 color:LP text:"June van der Klashorst "
from:1993 till:2001 color:AL text:"Diana Warnock "
from:1994 till:2018 color:AL text:"Michelle Roberts "
from:1994 till:2001 color:LP text:"Rhonda Parker "
from:1996 till:2001 color:AL text:"Megan Anwyl "
from:1996 till:2008 color:LP text:"Katie Hodson-Thomas "
from:1996 till:2001 color:LP text:"Monica Holmes "
from:1996 till:2010 color:AL text:"Alannah MacTiernan "
from:1996 till:2008 color:AL text:"Sheila McHale "
from:2001 till:2008 color:AL text:"Dianne Guise "
from:2001 till:2013 color:AL text:"Carol Martin "
from:2001 till:2018 color:AL text:"Margaret Quirk "
from:2001 till:2008 color:AL text:"Jaye Radisich "
from:2001 till:2008 color:LP text:"Sue Walker "
from:2001 till:2013 color:ID text:"Janet Woollard "
from:2005 till:2008 color:AL text:"Judy Hughes "
from:2008 till:2018 color:AL text:"Lisa Baker "
from:2008 till:2018 color:AL text:"Janine Freeman "
from:2008 till:2018 color:LP text:"Liza Harvey "
from:2008 till:2017 color:LP text:"Andrea Mitchell "
from:2008 till:2018 color:AL text:"Rita Saffioti "
bar:Carles
from:2009 till:2010 color:AG text:"
from:2010 till:2013 color:ID text:"Adele Carles "
barset:MLAs4
from:2013 till:2018 color:NP text:"Mia Davies "
from:2013 till:2017 color:NP text:"Wendy Duncan "
from:2013 till:2017 color:LP text:"Eleni Evangel "
from:2013 till:2018 color:AL text:"Josie Farrer "
from:2013 till:2017 color:LP text:"Glenys Godfrey "
from:2013 till:2018 color:AL text:"Simone McGurk "
from:2014 till:2018 color:LP text:"Libby Mettam "
from:2017 till:2018 color:AL text:"Robyn Clarke "
from:2017 till:2018 color:AL text:"Emily Hamilton "
from:2017 till:2018 color:AL text:"Lisa O'Malley "
from:2017 till:2018 color:AL text:"Cassie Rowe "
from:2017 till:2018 color:AL text:"Amber-Jade Sanderson "
from:2017 till:2018 color:AL text:"Jessica Shaw "
from:2017 till:2018 color:AL text:"Jessica Stojkovski "
from:2017 till:2018 color:AL text:"Sabine Winton "
from:2018 till:2018 color:LP text:"Alyssa Hayden "
barset:skip