Ms Represented

A podcast about the history of women in Australian politics. One hundred years after Australia’s first female parliamentarian, journalist Annabel Crabb and comedian Steph Tisdell look at how women have shaped politics from the first women to speak in the House of Representatives, the first to bring a baby to work with them and the ones who broke through the beer glass ceiling and drank with their male colleagues in the members bar.

In the early days of the women's suffrage movement, some argued that the presence of females in parliament would bring a better moral tone to politics. The Women's Suffrage League in South Australia was first called the Social Purity Society and lobbied to protect women from the scourges of booze, gambling and violence.

But some men were concerned that admitting women to the parliamentary process would be like having their wives come to work and nag them to give up drinking. Steph and Annabel take a look at how alcohol has shaped parliamentary culture and often excluded women.

Annabel has spent the last year interviewing female politicians of all ages and political persuasions. They have plenty of different views, but on one issue, they were nearly all in agreement. When a woman suggests a good idea, it is often ignored until a man says exactly the same thing. So, female politicians have had to concoct some inventive ways to get their views heard.

Enid Lyons, the first woman in the House of Representatives had 11 children. But ever since she entered politics, women have been bombarded with questions about their kids. Sometimes it's about who is minding their children, or why they don't have children at all. Annabel and Steph chat about why we are so focused on the child-bearing capacity of our female parliamentarians.