Women in the South Australian Legislative Council
Introduction There have been 24 '''women in the South Australian Legislative Council''' since its establishment in 1840.Women have had the right to vote and stand as candidates since 1894.In 1895, South Australian women became the first state in Australia, and some of the first in the world, to be given the right to vote and stand for election to Parliament. The following year at the 1896 election, the first women in Australia voted. Ironically, South Australia was the last state to elect a female representative, at the 1959 election, when Jessie Cooper and Joyce Steele were elected to the Parliament of South Australia for the Liberal and Country League (LCL).The first woman candidate for Legislative Council honours was Patience Howard, née Hawker (28 March 1900 – 9 August 1994), who stood for the Labor Party for Central No. 2 at the 1953 election. She was unsuccessful in this Liberal stronghold.The first successful female candidate for the Legislative Council was Cooper. In 1975 she was joined by Labor's first female MLC, Anne Levy, who would later become the first and only female President of the South Australian Legislative Council. Sandra Kanck was the first female Democrat in 1993, and Ann Bressington was the first female independent in 2006.
List of women in the South Australian Legislative Council Names in '''bold''' indicate women who have been appointed as Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries during their time in Parliament. Names in ''italics'' indicate entry into Parliament through a by-election or by appointment and * symbolises members that have sat as members in both the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly.#NamePartyPeriod of service1Jessie Cooper  LCL/Liberal  7 March 1959 – 10 July 1979 (retired)2'''Anne Levy'''  Labor  12 July 1975 – 10 October 1997 (retired)3'''Barbara Wiese'''  Labor  15 September 1979 – 15 September 1995 (resigned)4'''Diana Laidlaw'''  Liberal  6 November 1982 – 6 June 2003 (resigned)5Carolyn Pickles  Labor  7 December 1985 – 8 February 2002 (retired)6''Bernice Pfitzner''  Liberal  23 October 1990 – 10 October 1997 (defeated)7'''''Caroline Schaefer'''''  Liberal  1 August 1993 – 20 March 2010 (retired)8Sandra Kanck  Democrats  11 December 1993 – 30 January 2009 (resigned)'''Carmel Zollo'''  Labor  11 October 1997 – 15 March 2014 (retired)10'''Gail Gago'''  Labor  9 February 2002 – 17 March 2018 (retired)11''Kate Reynolds''  Democrats  17 February 2003 – 17 March 2006 (defeated)12'''''Michelle Lensink''''' Liberal  26 June 2003 – 13Ann Bressington  Independent  18 March 2006 – 15 March 2014 (retired)14Tammy Franks  Greens  20 March 2010 – '''Jing Lee''' Liberal  20 March 2010 – Kelly Vincent  Dignity for Disability  20 March 2010 – 17 March 2018 (defeated)17Connie Bonaros SA Best 17 March 2018 –'''Emily Bourke''' Labor 17 March 2018 –Irene Pnevmatikos Labor 17 March 2018 –'''Clare Scriven''' Labor 17 March 2018 –21''Nicola Centofanti'' Liberal 7 April 2020 –22''Heidi Girolamo'' Liberal 24 August 2021 –23Laura Curran Liberal 19 March 2022 –Sarah Game One Nation 19 March 2022 –
Timeline ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:12PlotArea = top:10 bottom:80 right:200 left:20AlignBars = earlyDateFormat = yyyyPeriod   = from:1955 till:2025TimeAxis  = orientation:horizontalScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1955Colors   =  id:LP  value:blue         legend: Liberal & Country League/Liberal Party of Australia  id:AL  value:red          legend: Australian Labor Party  id:AD  value:orange       legend: Australian Democrats  id:AG  value:brightgreen  legend: Australian Greens  id:DF  value:purple       legend: Dignity for Disability/Dignity Party  id:NX  value:redorange    legend: Nick Xenophon's SA-BEST  id:ON  value:yellow       legend: Pauline Hanson's One Nation  id:ID  value:gray(0.6)    legend: IndependentLegend     = columns:3 left:150 top:50 columnwidth:300BarData =  barset:MLCsPlotData=  width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till  barset:MLCs  from:1959 till:1979 color:LP text:"Jessie Cooper (1959–1979)"  from:1975 till:1997 color:AL text:"Anne Levy (1975–1997)"  from:1979 till:1995 color:AL text:"Barbara Wiese (1979–1995)"  from:1982 till:2003 color:LP text:"Diana Laidlaw (1982–2003)"  from:1985 till:2002 color:AL text:"Carolyn Pickles (1985–2002)"  from:1990 till:1997 color:LP text:"Bernice Pfitzner (1990–1997)"  from:1993 till:2010 color:LP text:"Caroline Schaefer (1993–2010)"  from:1993 till:2009 color:AD text:"Sandra Kanck (1993–2009)"  from:1997 till:2014 color:AL text:"Carmel Zollo (1997–2014)"  from:2002 till:2018 color:AL text:"Gail Gago (2002–2018)"  from:2003 till:2006 color:AD text:"Kate Reynolds (2003–2006)"  from:2003 till:2023 color:LP text:"Michelle Lensink (2003–present)"  from:2006 till:2014 color:ID text:"Ann Bressington (2006–2014)"  from:2010 till:2023 color:AG text:"Tammy Franks (2010–present)"  from:2010 till:2023 color:LP text:"Jing Lee (2010–present)"  from:2010 till:2018 color:DF text:"Kelly Vincent (2010–2018)"  from:2018 till:2023 color:NX text:"Connie Bonaros (2018–present)"  from:2018 till:2023 color:AL text:"Emily Bourke (2018–present)"  from:2018 till:2023 color:AL text:"Irene Pnevmatikos (2018–present)"  from:2018 till:2023 color:AL text:"Clare Scriven (2018–present)"  from:2020 till:2023 color:LP text:"Nicola Centofanti (2020–present)"  from:2021 till:2023 color:LP text:"Heidi Girolamo (2021–present)"  from:2022 till:2023 color:LP text:"Laura Curran (2022–present)"  from:2022 till:2023 color:ON text:"Sarah Game (2022–present)"  barset:skip
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