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Prior to the 1901 Federation of Australia, some of the self-governing British colonies of Australia had already enacted the right of women to vote or stand in elections. South Australian women achieved the right to stand for office in 1895 following the Constitutional Amendment (Adult Suffrage) Act 1894 , which was the first legislation in the ...
South Australian women won the parliamentary vote in 1894 and Spence stood for office in 1897. Edith Cowan (1861–1932) was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly in 1921 and was the first woman elected to any Australian Parliament. Women's suffrage in Australia was one of the early achievements of Australian democracy.
This was the first legislation in the world permitting women also to stand for election to political office and, in 1897, Catherine Helen Spence became the first female political candidate for political office, unsuccessfully standing for election as a delegate to the Federal Convention on Australian Federation.
The Act was the first legislation in the world to grant the right for women to be elected to a parliament, [11] and made the colony the fourth place in the world to give women the vote after the Isle of Man (1880), New Zealand (1893) and Colorado (1893). [12] [13] The Act enfranchised female citizens of South Australia, including indigenous women.
The Women's Christian Temperance Union established branches in most Australian colonies in the 1880s, promoting votes for women and a range of social causes. [17] South Australian suffragette Catherine Helen Spence (1825–1910) Female suffrage, and the right to stand for office, was first won in South Australia in 1895.
Australia has since had multiple notable women serving in public office as well as other fields. In Australia, European women (with the notable exception of Indigenous women and most women not of European descent) were granted the right to vote and to be elected at federal elections in 1902. [3] [4]
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There have been 122 women in the Australian Senate since the establishment of the Parliament of Australia. Women have had the right to stand for federal parliament since 1902, and there were three female candidates for the Senate at the 1903 federal election ( Vida Goldstein , Nellie Martel , and Mary Moore-Bentley ).