Senator James McGrath, Liberal National Party representing Queensland, personalizes the urgent need to address the gender imbalance in the political representation of his state. Only one of Queensland’s twelve federal representatives is a woman. This statistic is what makes it home to the worst male-to-female gender balance of any state in Australia. The strident defeat at its heart speaks to the deeper issues confronting the Liberal Party. As of today, women constitute just six out of twenty-eight members in the House of Representatives.
That doesn’t mean the conversation about gender representation isn’t becoming more intense. Sussan Ley, an influential member of the party’s right faction, is committed to increasing the number of women within the Liberal partyroom. On the latter point, she remains undecided about introducing quotas. She thinks that this is a matter that should be left to the individual state branches. This federated model means that the state parties have some flexibility in how they approach gender equality to better suit local needs and circumstances.
The Call for Change
Increasing the proportion of women in senior positions is a goal of Minister for Women Sussan Ley. It is an important cause and she has boldly declared her intention to be a “zealot” for it. Ley acknowledges the current shortcomings, asserting, “What is not fine is not having enough women.” Her remarks come amid growing criticism of her party. The result has drawn widespread assessment from critics for its lackluster job of representing women on the frontbench.
Ley’s recent changes to the frontbench have drawn criticism, particularly for sidelining female representatives from the party’s right faction. Claire Chandler and Sarah Henderson were wiped out entirely from the frontbench. At the same time, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price suffered a demotion from her shadow cabinet portfolio. These decisions have raised serious questions about whether the party’s leadership really cares about gender equity.
Diverging Opinions on Quotas
Against this challenging backdrop, significant division over how best to proceed within the party further clouds the path ahead. Angus Taylor, now Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction and head of the conservative wing of the NSW branch, is vehemently against introducing gender quotas. Indeed, he claims that these kinds of measures “subvert democratic processes” inside the party. Instead, Taylor argues that these are best pursued through alternatives like mentoring and recruitment in order to reach gender balance.
“I think there are better ways of achieving this … Mentoring, recruitment, support is the way to make sure you have talented people,” Taylor stated. His view highlights a deep rift in the party over what approach to take to tackle gender imbalance.
The problem is similar across the border in New South Wales. Western Australia isn’t much better on the representation front, currently represented by six federal men and just two women. This is an enormous achievement and a huge step forward for the Liberal Party, who had previously taken significant strides toward gender parity in the Senate. The deep imbalance in the House of Representatives is still very worrisome.
Future Directions
In an attempt to counteract these many months of lobbying, Australian education minister, Simon Birmingham, has pushed for “hard, fast and ambitious” quotas since the recent elections. His call reflects a growing acknowledgment within certain factions of the party that immediate action is necessary to rectify gender imbalances.
Sussan Ley is making a hell of a case for compulsory quotas and trunks, while personally working to undermine her party’s internal schism on pro-quota machinations. Her actions will have strong implications for the future of gender equality both in the Party and nationally. Whatever the result of this internal tussle, it will alter the balance of power within the party. It will produce extremely large effects on women’s political representation in Australia overall, as well.
