The Liberal Party’s Women MPs – Where are They?

August 2018 marked the 75th anniversary of the first Australian woman to be elected to the House of Representatives – Dame Enid Lyons, who stood for the United Australia Party, the forerunner of the Liberal Party of Australia. In the last three decades, female MPs have become a familiar sight in both houses of the Australian parliament. But that is just part of the tale – female MPs remain a minority – even more so on the non-Labor side. On Tuesday 31 July 2018, Katherine O’Regan, executive director of the Cities Leadership Institute joined Sophie York, lecturer in Public International Law & Legal Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, and Jurisprudence at the University of Sydney, and academic Peter van Onselen, a commentator and contributing editor at The Australian to discuss and debate the issue of women and the Liberal Party of Australia.

THE LIBERAL PARTY’S WOMEN – WHERE ARE THEY?

KATHERINE O’REGAN

I am honoured to be here. The Sydney Institute holds a special place in Australian public debate and public policy. Its contribution and impact continues to be far reaching in time and place. I am also pleased to see Liberal colleagues here this evening.

Looking around the room, there are women who have worked tirelessly and selflessly – who have spoken out and worked hard for women – including The Sydney Institute’s own Anne Henderson. You all have been true champions of change. Having you here demonstrates that when it comes to gender representation the Liberal Party is united in wanting things to change.

And we know change does not come easily. We know that change in any party, in any organisation, can only be achieved when its members are united in purpose.

I believe that to make change the Liberal Party must use its strengths. And I believe that as a Party its strength lies in diversity – including gender diversity. We are a party that is stronger politically, economically and culturally because of diversity. When we respect our differences, are mindful of the things we share, we have the power to succeed as party and as nation.

It’s time

And it is time – it is time for real action. To increase the engagement, voice and vote of women in the Liberal Party.

We know that political parties that have more balanced gender representation perform better, make better decisions and have greater appeal to the electorate. As a party we must harness this diversity – we must harness the voices, views and talents of women to deliver an increase in gender representation in the party, in policy and in parliament.

The woman problem

In corridors, committees and media columns the “Women Problem” is often discussed, debated and dissected. Women are missing at Board tables holding only 24.9 per cent of board positions, women make up only 14 of the Chief Executive roles in the ASX 200 – although this may have changed sightly with the recent appointment of the first female CEO at Macquarie Bank – and women fall well behind their male counterparts in take home pay and superannuation balances.

Turning to politics and the Liberal Party, the numbers are equally confronting – the recent Menzies Research Centre Report Gender and Politics makes it clear that Liberal women are underrepresented in every parliamentary chamber in almost every jurisdiction across the nation.

Liberal women are simply not standing for positions and are not being preselected in anywhere near the same numbers as their male counterparts. Further, the report highlights – and this may be the rub – women are not engaged at the local party level. They are not taking on leadership roles in their local Liberal branches – and only some 23 per cent of Liberal branch presidents are women.

Looking at the ballot box the numbers reveal more of the story. In 2001, for the first time since 1967, less than 50 per cent of women voters, voted Liberal. Since that time a downward trend has emerged breaking the tight nexus between women and the Liberal Party since its founding by Sir Robert Menzies. The long held electoral advantage the Liberal Party has held with voters, as the political and ideological home for women, is slowly but surely diminishing.

Now we know politics is all about the numbers and these numbers tell a powerful story. The story is, there is a ‘Women Problem” in the Liberal Party – we know it, we see it and the numbers record it.

But let’s be clear the Women Problem is not a problem with women. Women do not need fixing. Women do not need to be reprogramed and reformed to conform to a stereotypical notion of candidate. There are smart, capable women who have the capacity and capability to be elected and to effectively serve their communities and serve the Party.

It is also clear that women cannot fix the Women Problem on their own. Women talking to women does not break the chain. Does not disrupt the existing cycle. Does not deliver real change. This is not a battle between women and men. The party needs all members, men and women, to be united, to work together to fix the party structure, approach and culture. To fix gender diversity from the party branches to the parliamentary benches.

The party of firsts for women

In many ways the Liberal Party has seen the pioneers for women. There has been a long list of female firsts chronicled by many, including by Margaret Fitzherbert in her pivotal book So Many Firsts. From Dame Enid Lyons as the first women to be elected to the House of Representatives, Julie Bishop as the first women as Foreign Affairs Minister, Senator Marise Payne as the first female Minister for Defence and Premier Gladys Berejiklian who was the first female appointed as transport minister.

While the achievement of these pioneering women is commendable, they are more the exception than the rule. It is now time to make these women exceptions become the rule.

While slow to act, the party has acknowledged that there is a Women Problem and there are efforts being made to change. There is a commitment to a target of 50 per cent female representation at elections by 2025. There is a commitment to reporting of female representation in branches, at the executive and parliamentary levels. Minsters Kelly O’Dwyer and Julie Bishop, along with Prime Minister Turnbull, have committed to setting up a Liberal federal fighting fund to identify, encourage and support women to run for parliament.

Here in NSW, recent changes to the Constitution has doubled the number of women who have a voice and vote on the party’s State Council; at the grass roots level there has been an increase in female membership with women now representing 41 per cent of the total membership.

Complacency is of course a curse and there is significantly more work to be done.

Lessons from the United States

To assess where Liberal Party efforts could be best directed I looked to leverage my interests and insights into the US political landscape. This super power, land of equality and opportunity seemed ripe to do some good R&D. In 2018 there appears to be a record-breaking wave of women running for Congress.

A little digging however reveals some startling figures. Three hundred and fifty Democrat women have filed to run for the House, compared with 118 Republican women; and 105 Democrat women have won House primaries, compared with just 25 by Republican women.

While you could attribute this rise of Democratic women to the left backlash against President Trump the partisan difference in women representation is not new. Currently, in Congress, there are almost three times as many Democratic women as Republican women and there has been a long trend of very few Republican women making it to Congress — or even running in the first place.

The strong Democratic representation of women can be attributed to the Democrats having a strong pipeline. This pipeline comes from well-educated, highly partisan people who work in high status jobs such as lawyers.  And these college-educated, professional women are more likely to be Democrats than Republicans.

Digging even further, the GOP does not seem to have prioritised electing women in the same way as the Democrats. Emily’s List provides financial and non-financial support for Democratic candidates and, interestingly, party donors are now actively choosing to support women over traditional giving patterns. Emily’s List also casts the net widely encouraging women to run even if they have school-age children by emphasising that women and mothers have valuable experiences and perspectives that should be represented in the political system.

While the US political landscape has some unique characteristics, the notable differences in the Democrats and Republican Party structures, approach and culture to advance gender diversity provide valuable insights.

Liberal Party performance plan

So – what can the Liberal Party need to do to advance gender diversity?

Here is where my early career in sport comes in handy. Indeed, it was sport that led to my involvement in politics. Not knowing what I was getting myself into I put my hand up to transfer from Olympic Athlete Programme at the Australian Sports Commission to the Sports Minister’s Office in the Howard Government.

While it is often said that sport and politics don’t mix when you think male dominated, competitive, local through to national representation and community standards of behaviour that unfortunately at times cross the line – there are many sport-politics synergies.

Taking a leaf out of the sports playbook – to advance women, the Liberal Party needs a Performance Plan. A Performance Plan that contains five tangible actions.

1. Talent identification
2. Coaching and support
3. Competition experience
4. Public Profile
5. Performance monitoring

Talent Identification

Turning first to talent identification. Who could and should stand as a Liberal candidate must change. The party needs to change what is defined as “electable” talent and change where it looks for that talent.

We know that career and life paths for men and women are different. Women take breaks for families, participate in the workforce differently and engage/not engage with the Party for different reasons and at different times. The party needs to proactively identify, encourage and accept potential female candidates that may not currently be in the party and candidates that have broader life experiences. To do this the party needs to engage more women now and foster future generations and future candidates.

Taking an insight from the US that degree holders are more likely to run as candidates, universities are a key place to foster and recruit female talent. This is highlighted by figures released today that show there are more Australian women who hold a university degree than men.

The party should however not wait for elections to identify this talent. Instead, as we do for the Olympic Games, the party needs to identify talent to create a pipeline of talent to compete not only for the next Games but the Games after that and the Games after that.

Coaching and support

Looking at coaching and support. Athletes succeed because they have a good support team around them from a coach to a dietician, doctor, physiotherapist and sport scientist. This team is proactively working in the athletes’ best interest. Some of the training and mentoring programs that the Liberal Party currently offer women are commendable, but athletes cannot develop and perform to the best from just one training session. They need a support team and one that is there on an ongoing basis.

Here is where I believe the Liberal Party could leverage the notion of Paying Forward – paying back to others. As Liberals we believe in individual opportunity. So, let’s not wait or rely on government or head office to make change. Each and every party member has the capacity to proactively pay forward to advance a woman or women.

It is when men and women across the party and across the community Pay Forward and nominate a woman for a position, committee, speaking spot, seat at a table – where they identify, encourage and support women then the impact on the party would be quite remarkable.

Competition experience

Athletes go through their training sessions, but they must also be match or competition fit. Potential women candidates likewise need to build their resilience and ability to perform in the political arena. They must step up to experience the nomination and selection process whether this is for a branch executive position or a preselection for office.

Nor do athletes win every race. A woman not being selected should not be considered as a failure. Each competition is a valuable experience that is planned, analysed and built upon to enhance performance for the next race.

Public Profile

Athletes aspire to achieve because they have been inspired by others. We see athletes in the media, on social media, in the community. A young footballer knows every statistic on their favourite player, they know the history of their club and they can easily watch their heroes.

Women in the Liberal Party wanting to be part of the future must know, learn and understand the party history. They must also be able to see women having a voice now so that they know they can have a voice tomorrow.

To achieve diversity the Liberal Party and its members must proactively communicate the achievements and impact of women, enhance the visibility of women in both the party and in public – whether it is women on panels, as speakers, on committees or in forums, the views and voices of women must be given greater visibility.

Performance monitoring

Last but by no means least is performance monitoring.

An athlete can’t improve their performance without knowing what change has happened over time, what is working and what needs to be adapted or changed to current conditions.

In this light the party needs to establish an open and real time dashboard that measures and monitors the advancement of women in roles across the party. If the party is serious about change then we should not be shy about publicly reporting change and data can provide both the evidence and tool to drive change.

Conclusion

At the heart of this Liberal Performance Plan are liberal values – individual freedom, enterprise and empowerment. It is a Plan that recognises that every member of the Party has an interest and benefit in gender diversity.

It is also a Plan where every party member has a responsibility to encourage and support women to reach their full potential so that the party can to continue to reach its full potential.

We live in an increasingly fast paced world where the diversity of ideas, thoughts and perspectives are what define, distinguish and deliver success. The Liberal Party cannot afford to be passive onlookers. So, it is time – whether you are member, branch president, delegate or donor it is time to take concerted proactive steps.

It is time for “less talk and more hustle”. It is time to ensure women have a strong voice, view and vote in the party, in policy and at the polls.

As Anne Henderson knows well, Enid Lyons was an extraordinary Liberal woman. Mother of twelve, wife to the Prime Minister, first female member of the House of Representatives, first women in Federal Cabinet – as well as radio broadcaster, newspaper columnist and author of three books. Her achievements are exceptional.

Liberals now all need to be united to make sure that these Liberal women’s achievements are so much more than an exception.