Women in the Australian Senate

The passage of the Commonwealth Franchise Act allowed women to both vote and stand for election to the Parliament of Australia.

[3] She then ran unsuccessfully again in 1910 and 1917 after a short stint attempting to breakthrough into the House of Representatives.

[3] However, women were not successful in entering federal politics until World War II.

[3] Following Tangney's entry into politics, the Senate has continuously had women members.

However, despite the success, the number of women running continued to fluctuate drastically.

[4] Between the years 1943 and 1969, there were only five elections of women and Enid Lyons accounted for three of these in the House of Representatives.

Numbers and proportions are as they were directly after the beginning of Senate terms and do not take into account deaths, resignations, appointments, defections or other changes in membership.