Chapter 10: Australian Indigenous Women and Political Leadership

Australian Indigenous people makeup 3% of the Australian population and hold only 1.8% of all elected representative seats in Australian parliaments. In stark contrast to non-Indigenous political representation, Australian Indigenous women hold close to 50% of elected positions achieved in the state, territory, and federal parliaments in 2017. The political shift for Indigenous women in Australia from community-based politics into parliamentary politics has occurred in just under two decades at the state and federal levels. Many of the incumbent Australian Indigenous female politicians have found their way to political leadership via Indigenous advocacy and working inside of Indigenous organizations. This political pathway, different from the socialization path typical inside of political parties (Hyman, 1959), honors these individual leaders’ connection to their Indigenous communities and exemplifies the requirement for Indigenous women to seek alternative routes to public office.