Jessie Cooper

Jessie Mary Cooper (née McAndrew; 29 June 1914[1] – 28 December 1993[2]) was elected as a Liberal and Country League[3] representative to the South Australian Legislative Council at the 1959 election.

In an action brought by Frank Chapman and Arthur Cockington, Jessie Cooper and Margaret Scott (the Liberal party and Labor party candidates respectively, running for the Legislative Council in the South Australian election), had to show that they were "persons" in the sense intended by the State Constitution to be eligible to stand.

The South Australian Supreme Court found in their favour and Jessie Cooper went on to win a seat in the Legislative Council.

[8][10] Reporters asked Joyce Steele and Jessie Cooper how they would combine their domestic duties with politics: Steele said that she would have to get a housekeeper to help with the housework, while Cooper replied that "... she would fit in her housework in the same way as a male member fitted in the running of an orchard or an accountant's office."

(Sydney Morning Herald, 9 March 1959. p. 1)[11] Molly Byrne was Labor's first female elected to the Parliament of South Australia, at the 1965 election, and the third behind Steele and Cooper.