It’s no secret the Liberal Party of Australia has a problem with women. The party has made headlines over the years for its toxic blokey “Big Swinging Dick” culture, underrepresentation of women in the party, and dwindling support from women voters.
Yet it hasn’t always been this way. In its early years, the Liberals achieved most of the “firsts” for women in Australian politics and, for much of the 20th century, enjoyed more support from women than from men. So what changed?
In a new open-access study, I traced this transformation by exploring the influence of leaders on the party’s ideology and changing prioritisation of women’s issues.
