Women and the 2007 federal election

Abstract

For the first time in more than twenty years, the Australian Labor Party went to the 2007 election without a women's policy. Campaign advisers believed that any suggestion of feminism would damage its chances of wooing back blue-collar voters. Feminists had to take it on trust that the women on the Labor front bench would result in renewed progress towards women-friendly policy. The Coalition had a women's policy but suffered from the effective campaigns on the deleterious effects of their WorkChoices on low-paid women workers. While there was a record number of women in parliament and in Cabinet following the election, the relatively low number of women fielded by the Coalition kept Australia well down on the international league table for representation of women in national parliaments.