'It [the Liberals’ women problem] doesn’t go back five or 10 years, it goes back 40 years,' said Liberal women. | OPINION by Julie Szego auspol
so she can be a strong voice for women. “We’re determined to earn back your trust and your faith,” she said to them this week.
For historical reasons, Liberal women had a bigger institutional presence in Victoria than in most other states. In 1944 Robert Menzies formed the Liberal Party from an assortment of centre-right groups, including the Australian Women’s National League, which excelled in fundraising and organising. The League’s Victorian branch extracted a deal from Menzies for equal representation for women in internal party administration – but this did not extend to equal representation in parliament.
Labor, despite its pioneering credentials on no-fault divorce, domestic violence refuges and the single mother’s benefit, was still a creature of blokey unions and not endearing to large sections of the female middle-class that cherished individualism above collectivism.