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Dame Enid Lyons: a pioneer for women in parliament

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Robert Menzies, Dame Enid Lyons and others walk outside Parliament House
Dame Enid Lyons: a pioneer for women in parliament

SUBJECTS:  Civics and Citizenship, History

YEARS:  5–6, 9–10


What would it be like to be one of only two women in an Australian parliament dominated by men?

That was the situation in 1943 when Dame Enid Lyons entered the House of Representatives and Dorothy Tangney entered the Senate.

Find out what Lyons said about this at the end of her career in 1951. Then listen to an excerpt from her first speech to the House on 29 September 1943.


Things to think about

  1. 1.Do you think that, currently, life for women who have been voted into parliament would be different from life for men in the same position? Why or why not? If you want to convince somebody of something, what techniques would you use to make sure that you 'keep them on-side' and eventually convince them?
  2. 2.When reflecting on her life in parliament, what strategies did Dame Enid Lyons feel had been successful? What does the fact that she needed to use these strategies suggest about the relationship between men and women at the time? In her first speech to parliament, how did Lyons use humour to deflect potential 'alarm'? What serious message was this humour meant to soften?
  3. 3.Using the internet, research the number of women in the House of Representatives and the Senate today. Is the number smaller, or larger, than you had expected? Create a timeline charting the history of women in the Australian Parliament, beginning with Dame Enid Lyons and ending in the present day.
  4. 4.Search for the first speech to parliament made by Sarah Hanson-Young, at that time the youngest person to be voted into the Senate. Alone or with someone else, read through her speech to find two things: what led her into politics; and the ways she wanted to contribute to Australia at that point. How do you see those aims as similar to or different from those of Dame Enid Lyons?



Date of broadcast: 1951


Copyright

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