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Women in Australian Federal Cabinet
Jennifer Curtin
Politics and Public Administration Group
Introduction
The issue of women's representation in positions of power is regularly
a subject of political discussion. This research note focuses on women's
representation in Federal Cabinet. It offers a multi-dimensional profile
of the number of women in Cabinet over the last twenty years and highlights
the possible implications such a profile has for future trends.
Role of Cabinet
Although the Cabinet is not mentioned in the Constitution, it is nevertheless
a core institution of government in Australia. It is within Cabinet that
policies are discussed and developed and decisions made on policy implementation
and expenditure. It is the members of Cabinet who must explain and defend
policy initiatives and outcomes. Furthermore, each Cabinet Minister is
responsible for a portfolio and so represents the connection between the
political ideas of the government and the particular concerns of the Minister's
department and relevant interest groups. It has been argued that this
positioning provides Cabinet Ministers with power to bring about policy
change that is unavailable to other political actors.(1)
Looking at the Numbers
Because Cabinet is a powerful component of the body politic, it is not
surprising that in recent years attention has been drawn to the under-representation
of women within Cabinet ranks. Although women gained the right to vote
and stand for election to the Commonwealth Parliament in 1902, it was
1943 before any women were elected. In 1949, Dame Enid Lyons became the
first woman to hold Cabinet rank when she was named Vice-President of
the Federal Executive Council. In 1966, Senator Annabelle Rankin became
the first woman to administer a government department (Housing) but this
was not a Cabinet position. It was not until 1975 that women were represented
by a Minister with a portfolio inside Cabinet. Senator Margaret Guilfoyle
entered Cabinet as Minister for Education in 1975 and in 1976 was made
Minister for Social Security. Guilfoyle stayed in Cabinet for over 7 years
and remains the longest serving woman Cabinet Minister. However, between
1975 and 1996 there was only one woman in Cabinet at any time. There have
been two since the change of government in 1996.
The table shows these absolute numbers as percentages, and takes into
account other factors such as the changing size of Cabinet, the number
of women in the government and the number of women in Parliament.
Selected Women in % Govt Women in % Govt Women in
Years Cabinet Women in Ministry* Women in Parliament**
No. % Cabinet No. % Ministry No. %
1975-77 1 9 33 1 4.3 33 6 3.1
1978-80 1 7.7 33 1 3.7 33 7 3.7
1980-81 1 7 33 1 3.8 33 10 5.3
1981-83 1 7 20 1 3.8 20 13 6.9
1983-84 1 6.6 7.7 1 3.7 7.7 19 10.1
1984-87 1 5.8 7.1 1 3.7 7.1 23 10.3
1987-88 1 5.8 7.7 3 10 23 26 11.6
1989-90 0 0 0 2 6.7 15 26 11.6
1990-92 1 5.8 8.3 2 6.7 16.7 28 12.5
1992-93 1 5.5 8.3 3 10 25 28 12.5
1993 1 5.2 7.7 3 10 23 29 13
1994-96 1 5.8 7.7 3 10 23 29 13
1996-97 2 12.5 8 4 14.2 16 46 20.5
* Does not include Parliamentary Secretaries
** Includes House of Representatives and Senate
Several trends are evident. First, a decrease in the percentage of women
Cabinet members is apparent after 1983, with no significant increase until
1996. This is largely because the number of women in Cabinet did not change
(or fell, as was the case after Senator Susan Ryan resigned), while the
actual size of Cabinet increased during the same period, reaching a high
of 19 in 1993. After the 1996 election, the number of women in Cabinet
doubled while the overall size of Cabinet shrank, hence the 6.7 per cent
increase in women's presence.
Secondly, between 1975 and 1981 one-third of the women in the governing
parties held a Cabinet post-there being only three women in the governing
Coalition, one of whom was a Cabinet Minister. This proportion decreased
after 1983, with the number of women in consecutive Labor governments
increasing to thirteen without a corresponding increase in the number
of women in Cabinet. This would suggest that increasing the number of
women in Parliament is not in itself a sufficient means to increase the
representation of women in Cabinet. Other factors such as longevity of
political service both within and outside Parliament are also of considerable
consequence.
Thirdly, the total number of women in the House of Representatives stood
at only 3 out of 125 in 1980 (2.4%) and 10 out of 148 (6.8%) in 1990.
Over the same period, there were almost double these numbers of women
in the Senate, where there were 7 out of 64 (11%) in 1980 and 18 out of
76 (23%) in 1990. Such disparities between the number of women in each
chamber might be problematic for women's Cabinet representation in that
three-quarters of Cabinet is usually drawn from the House of Representatives.(2)
The number of female members in the House now stands at 23 (15.5%) and
is comparable with the number of women in the Senate which is also 23
(30%). However, ensuring women continue to make up a critical mass in
the House of Representatives appears significant for their representation
in Cabinet.
When we broaden the parameters to include the number of women in the
Ministry generally, the picture is brighter after 1987. Between 1975 and
1987, the percentage of Ministers who were women hovered around 4%, but
after 1987 rose to 10% and, with the exception of the 1989-91 period,
stayed at this level and increased by 4 per cent after the 1996 election.
Based on past figures, women are more likely to hold places outside,
rather than inside, Cabinet. While non-Cabinet Ministers have limited
access to the major decision-making arena, acting as a Minister or a Parliamentary
Secretary offers women training for future inclusion in Cabinet.
Conclusions
Margaret Guilfoyle noted in 1994 that unless women were positioned in
the Cabinet then the effect of more women in Parliament would not be felt
in the arena where the decisions are taken and the policy directions are
set.(3) If it is accepted that without women present in Cabinet, women's
interests may be overlooked, then the statistics presented above suggest
that the issue of women's representation within Cabinet remains a critical
one. While increasing the number of women in Parliament is important,
other factors such as increasing the number of women in the House of Representatives
(particularly in safe seats to allow for longevity of service) and including
them in the outer Ministry are also of significance.
Endnotes
- Dudley and J. Richardson, 'Promiscuous and Celibate Ministerial Styles:
Policy Change, Policy Networks and British Roads Policy', Parliamentary
Affairs 49 (4), 1996: 571
- Singleton, D. Aitkin, B. Jinks and J. Warhurst, Australian Political
Institutions, (5th edn), Longman, South Melbourne, 1996: 128-129
- Guilfoyle, 'Women, Parliament and Cabinet', Canberra Bulletin of
Public Administration 78, 1995: 22
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