Women in the South Australian House of Assembly
There have been 38 women in the South Australian House of Assembly since its establishment in 1857. Women have had the right to vote and the right to stand as candidates since 1894.
In 1895, South Australian women became the first state in Australia, and some of the first in the world, to be given the right to vote and stand for election to Parliament. The following year at the 1896 election, the first women in Australia voted. Ironically, South Australia was the last state to elect a female representative, at the 1959 election, when Jessie Cooper and Joyce Steele were elected to the Parliament of South Australia for the Liberal and Country League (LCL). Molly Byrne was the first Labor woman in the House at the 1965 election.
Women have been continuously represented in the House since. Steele would also become the first female minister in 1968. Only two women have represented minor parties, these being Heather Southcott for the Democrats in 1982, and Karlene Maywald for the Nationals from 1997 to 2010. Liberal Isobel Redmond in 2009 became the first and only woman to lead a major party in South Australia when she became Leader of the Opposition. Labor's Lyn Breuer from 2010 to 2013 was the first and only female Speaker of the South Australian House of Assembly. South Australia has not had a female Premier, Deputy Premier, Treasurer or Attorney-General.
In the current House of Assembly, ten of 24 Labor MPs are female (41.7%), while just two of 21 Liberal MPs are female (9.5%).
List of women in the South Australian House of Assembly
Names in bold indicate women who have been appointed as Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries during their time in Parliament. Names in italics indicate women who were first elected at a by-election. An asterisk (*) indicates that the member also served in the Legislative Council.
| Name | Party | Electoral Division | Period of service |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joyce Steele | LCL | Burnside Davenport | 7 March 1959 – 9 March 1973 (defeated) |
| Molly Byrne | Labor | Barossa Tea Tree Gully Todd | 6 March 1965 – 14 September 1979 (defeated) |
| Jennifer Cashmore | Liberal | Coles | 17 September 1977 – 10 December 1993 (retired) |
| Heather Southcott | Democrats | Mitcham | 8 May 1982 – 5 November 1982 (defeated) |
| June Appleby | Labor | Brighton Hayward | 6 November 1982 – 24 November 1989 (defeated) |
| Susan Lenehan | Labor | Mawson | 6 November 1982 – 11 December 1993 (defeated) |
| Di Gayler | Labor | Newland | 7 December 1985 – 24 November 1989 (defeated) |
| Colleen Hutchison | Labor | Stuart | 25 November 1989 – 11 December 1993 (defeated) |
| Dorothy Kotz | Liberal | Newland | 25 November 1989 – 17 March 2006 (retired) |
| Julie Greig | Liberal | Reynell | 11 December 1993 – 11 October 1997 (defeated) |
| Joan Hall | Liberal | Coles Morialta | 11 December 1993 – 17 March 2006 (defeated) |
| Annette Hurley | Labor | Napier | 11 December 1993 – 9 February 2002 (defeated) |
| Liz Penfold | Liberal | Flinders | 11 December 1993 – 20 March 2010 (retired) |
| Lorraine Rosenberg | Liberal | Kaurna | 11 December 1993 – 11 October 1997 (defeated) |
| Lea Stevens | Labor | Elizabeth Little Para | 9 April 1994 – 20 March 2010 (retired) |
| Robyn Geraghty | Labor | Torrens | 7 May 1994 – 15 March 2014 (retired) |
| Trish White | Labor | Taylor | 5 November 1994 – 20 March 2010 (retired) |
| Frances Bedford | Labor | Florey | 11 October 1997 – |
| Lyn Breuer | Labor | Giles | 11 October 1997 – 15 March 2014 (retired) |
| Vini Ciccarello | Labor | Norwood | 11 October 1997 – 20 March 2010 (defeated) |
| Steph Key | Labor | Hanson Ashford | 11 October 1997 – |
| Karlene Maywald | National | Chaffey | 11 October 1997 – 20 March 2010 (defeated) |
| Jennifer Rankine | Labor | Wright | 11 October 1997 – |
| Gay Thompson | Labor | Reynell | 11 October 1997 – 15 March 2014 (retired) |
| Vickie Chapman | Liberal | Bragg | 9 February 2002 – |
| Jane Lomax-Smith | Labor | Adelaide | 9 February 2002 – 20 March 2010 (defeated) |
| Isobel Redmond | Liberal | Heysen | 9 February 2002 – |
| Chloë Fox | Labor | Bright | 18 March 2006 – 15 March 2014 (defeated) |
| Grace Portolesi | Labor | Hartley | 18 March 2006 – 15 March 2014 (defeated) |
| Lindsay Simmons | Labor | Morialta | 18 March 2006 – 20 March 2010 (defeated) |
| Rachel Sanderson | Liberal | Adelaide | 20 March 2010 – |
| Leesa Vlahos | Labor | Taylor | 20 March 2010 – |
| Zoe Bettison | Labor | Ramsay | 11 February 2012 – |
| Susan Close | Labor | Port Adelaide | 11 February 2012 – |
| Annabel Digance | Labor | Elder | 15 March 2014 – |
| Katrine Hildyard | Labor | Reynell | 15 March 2014 – |
| Dana Wortley | Labor | Torrens | 15 March 2014 – |
| Nat Cook | Labor | Fisher | 6 December 2014 – |
Timeline
