Edith Dircksey Cowan OBE (née Brown; 2 August 1861 – 9 June 1932) was an Australian social reformer who worked for the rights and welfare of women and children.

Cowan was a key figure in the creation of the King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women, and became a member of its advisory board when it opened in 1916.

She was defeated after just a single term, but maintained a high profile during her tenure and managed to secure the passage of several of her private member's bills.

Cowan was a solitary person, committed nevertheless to social reforms which enhanced women's dignity and responsibility and which secured proper care for mothers and children.

There, she attended tuition of Canon Sweeting, a former headmaster of Bishop Hale's School who had taught a number of prominent men including John Forrest and Septimus Burt.

According to her biographer, Sweeting's tuition left Cowan with "a life-long conviction of the value of education, and an interest in books and reading".

She became chairperson of the Red Cross Appeal Committee and was rewarded when, in 1920, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

At the age of 59, she stood as the Nationalist candidate for the Legislative Assembly seat of West Perth because she felt that domestic and social issues were not being given enough attention.

She won a surprise victory, defeating the Attorney-General, Thomas Draper, who had introduced the legislation that enabled her to stand.

She succeeded in placing mothers in an equal position with fathers when their children died without having made a will and was one of the first to promote sex education in schools.

[8] In September 1930 she spoke at the inaugural meeting of the league's Claremont branch alongside leading secession campaigner Keith Watson.

Following an extended period of ill-health Cowan died of pancreatic cancer at the Avro Hospital, Subiaco on 9 June 1932, at the age of 70.

After a short service at St. Mary's Church, West Perth, a large public funeral was held at Karrakatta Cemetery where she was buried.

Believed to be the first civic monument to an Australian woman, it was built in the face of persistent opposition which has been characterised as "representative of a gender bias operating at the time".

In 2019 the release of the latest $50 note caused a sensation when it was discovered that the word 'responsibility' in Edith Cowan's speech was spelt incorrectly, missing the last 'i'.

Her life was the subject of the stage play With Fire in Her Heart: the Edith Cowan Story by Western Australian author and playwright Trevor Todd, in 2020.