Which Australian states and territories perform best on gender representation in parliament? We crunched the numbers

Abortion became a key issue at the recent Queensland election, despite its decriminalisation in 2018.

Voting against the motion at the time, LNP leader David Crisafulli fumbled questions throughout the election campaign about whether LNP members would be allowed a conscience vote.

This debate has likewise reappeared in South Australian politics, but the bill was narrowly defeated in the Upper House.

Women’s under-representation in parliaments and the lack of gender equality policies, or more hostile policies such as winding back abortion rights, are related.

Read more: Abortion is back in the headlines in Australia. The debates in the United States tell us why

How do the states and territories fare on gender equality?

In our forthcoming book chapter, we rank all Australian states and territories on their performance in achieving gender equality. This is based on three categories:

1. Representation – how many women get elected and what leadership positions they occupy

2. Infrastructure – how parliaments accommodate gender differences

3. Policy-making and policy adoption – how parliaments make policy and whether gender equality policies are adopted.

Here’s how the states measure up:

The ACT and Victoria clearly lead the way. Both states have reached gender parity, and include women and gender in all aspects of policy-making.

Representation

In 2024, women account for 44.2% of overall positions in state and territory parliaments in Australia. However, women are still underrepresented in six of eight state and territory parliaments.

The ACT is the exception, boasting a higher number of women than men. Victoria has achieved gender parity, with 64 women and 64 men legislators. The Northern Territory, Western Australia and Tasmania are nearing parity. Conversely, in Queensland and South Australia, women are outnumbered by men almost two to one.

Only the ACT unicameral Legislative Assembly has ever exceeded gender parity, breaking the record in 2016. Research shows proportional voting and multi-member electorates, used in the ACT’s Hare-Clark system, results in a greater number of women elected. But this is not the only factor.

Australia’s party system is crucial in either electing or gate-keeping women. Through adopting gender quotas, most Labor parties around the country have now achieved parity.

The Liberal and National parties continue to refuse affirmative action measures. Women make up only one-third of Liberal/National politicians across states and territories. Their resistance against quotas is a key barrier to achieving parliamentary gender parity.

Electing more women is linked to a greater number of women in positions of power. The ACT and Victoria have high percentages of women in cabinet (55.6% for ACT and 65.2% for Victoria in 2023) and in positions of power, such as speaker and committee chairs. Women can use these positions to further advance gender equality.

The Northern Territory has performed well in terms of representation. Since the recent election they have fallen across all three gender equality categories, even eliminating the minister for women portfolio.

Infrastructure

Parliaments have historically been designed by and for men. As such, the parliamentary infrastructure can serve as a barrier to the full participation of elected women.

While some progress has been made in all states and territories, the ACT and Victoria yet again come out on top. They both provide parliamentary infrastructure that accommodate gender differences in caring responsibility. There is no night sitting in either the ACT and Victoria, and both parliaments allow videoconferencing to help legislators perform their committee work.

The ACT is the only territory or state that provides gender affirmation leave and to have some form of a childcare policy.

These accommodations improves accessibility and helps all legislators combine their caring and work responsibilities.

What about policy?

How do states and territories fare when it comes to considering the interests of women and marginalised groups in the policy-making progress?

At the top of the pack, the ACT and Victoria mandate the use of gender-sensitive tools when public servants develop policy. They have also adopted gender responsive budgeting and a women’s budget statement. This shows a greater commitment and a legislative framework that includes the perspective of women.

The ACT also decriminalised abortion and male homosexuality earlier than the other states and territories.

Bottom of the pack

We rank Queensland as the worst for gender equality. Despite boasting a woman premier for most of the past two decades, it has the lowest proportion of women politicians, and the fewest women members in parliamentary bodies. The sunshine state also lags behind the rest in gender equality policy-making.

Despite South Australia’s historic leadership on issues of gender equality, the state has yet to see a woman lead its government. It also performs relatively poorly across all gender equality indicators. Notably, both South Australia and Queensland report the lowest proportion of women within their Liberal parties.

Both Queensland and South Australian governments have also failed to adopt the tools used by other states to include gender in the formulation of their policies and budget.

Having fewer women elected to parliament means fewer women in positions of power in the Cabinet or chairing committees. It means fewer opportunities for these states to address gender equality in their day-to-day business and the policies they prioritise.

So it’s not entirely surprising that abortion politics resurfaced in Queensland and South Australia over the past few weeks. Both states were late to decriminalise abortion — at least 10 years after Victoria and 16 years after the ACT.

While the poor performance of Queensland and South Australia can in part be explained by their lower percentages of elected women, another crucial factor might be ideology. Research shows that left-wing political parties fare better when it comes to women’s representation and the adoption of gender equality policy.

As the “Florida of Australia”, Queensland’s conservative traditions likely influence attitudes toward women in politics. It may also determine the types and scope of gender equality policy adopted.

Australian parliaments are becoming more inclusive, marked by rising women’s representation at all levels. We are also seeing a growing emphasis on gender equality evident in infrastructure, policies, and mechanisms.

However, as our analysis points out, there are notable disparities among states and territories, with clear winners and losers.