Women in the Tasmanian Legislative Council
Introduction There have been 22 '''women in the Tasmanian Legislative Council''' since its establishment in 1825.Women have had the right to vote since 1903 and the right to stand as candidates since 1921.The first successful female candidate for the Legislative Council was Margaret McIntyre, who was elected as the member for Cornwall in 1948.Like most MLCs, McIntyre was an independent. She died later in 1948 in an air accident, and the next woman elected to the Council was Labor's Lucy Grounds in 1951.Another Labor woman, Phyllis Benjamin, joined Grounds in 1952; Grounds retired in 1958 and Benjamin in 1976, in which year Kath Venn was elected to the Council. After Venn's departure in 1982 there were no women in the Council until 1992, when Jean Moore was elected. She departed in 1994, and since the election of Silvia Smith and Sue Smith to the Council in 1997 women have been represented continuously. In 2009, Vanessa Goodwin became the first Liberal woman elected to the Council.
List of women in the Tasmanian 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.#NamePartyElectoral DivisionPeriod of service1Margaret McIntyreIndependentCornwall8 May 1948 – 2 September 1948 (died)2Lucy GroundsLaborLaunceston29 September 1951 – 10 May 1958 (defeated)3'''Phyllis Benjamin'''LaborHobart10 May 1952 – 22 May 1976 (retired)4Kath VennLaborHobart22 May 1976 – 27 May 1982 (defeated)5Jean MooreIndependentHobart11 April 1992 – 28 May 1994 (defeated)6Silvia SmithIndependentWestmorland  Windermere31 May 1997 – 3 May 2003 (defeated)'''Sue Smith'''IndependentLeven  Montgomery31 May 1997 – 4 May 2013 (retired)8Cathy EdwardsIndependentPembroke28 August 1999 – 5 May 2001 (defeated)'''Lin Thorp'''LaborRumney28 August 1999 – 7 May 2011 (defeated)10'''Allison Ritchie'''LaborPembroke5 May 2001 – 20 June 2009 (resigned)11Norma JamiesonIndependentMersey3 May 2003 – 2 May 2009 (retired)12Tania RattrayIndependentApsley  McIntyre1 May 2004 – 13Ruth ForrestIndependentMurchison7 May 2005 – 14'''''Vanessa Goodwin'''''LiberalPembroke12 August 2009 – 2 October 2017 (resigned)15Adriana TaylorIndependentElwick1 May 2010 – 7 May 2016 (defeated)16Rosemary ArmitageIndependentLaunceston7 May 2011 – 17Leonie HiscuttLiberalMontgomery4 May 2013 –18Sarah LovellLaborRumney6 May 2017 –19Jo SiejkaLaborPembroke4 November 2017 –20Jane HowlettLiberalProsser5 May 2018 –21Meg WebbIndependentNelson4 May 2019 –22Jo PalmerLiberalRosevears1 August 2020 –
Timeline ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:12PlotArea = top:10 bottom:80 right:120 left:20AlignBars = earlyDateFormat = yyyyPeriod   = from:1945 till:2025TimeAxis  = orientation:horizontalScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1945Colors   =  id:AL  value:red        legend: Australian Labor Party  id:LP  value:blue       legend: Liberal Party of Australia  id:ID  value:gray(0.6)  legend: IndependentLegend     = columns:3 left:150 top:50 columnwidth:200BarData =  barset:MLCsPlotData=  width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till barset:MLCs  from:1948 till:1948 color:ID text:"Margaret McIntyre (1948)"  from:1951 till:1958 color:AL text:"Lucy Grounds (1951–1958)"  from:1952 till:1976 color:AL text:"Phyllis Benjamin (1952–1976)"  from:1976 till:1982 color:AL text:"Kath Venn (1976–1982)"  from:1992 till:1994 color:ID text:"Jean Moore (1992–1994)"  from:1997 till:2003 color:ID text:"Silvia Smith (1997–2003)"  from:1997 till:2013 color:ID text:"Sue Smith (1997–2013)"  from:1999 till:2011 color:AL text:"Lin Thorp (1999–2011)"  from:1999 till:2001 color:ID text:"Cathy Edwards (1999–2001)"  from:2001 till:2009 color:AL text:"Allison Ritchie (2001–2009)"  from:2003 till:2009 color:ID text:"Norma Jamieson (2003–2009)"  from:2004 till:2020 color:ID text:"Tania Rattray (2004–present)"  from:2005 till:2020 color:ID text:"Ruth Forrest (2005–present)"  from:2009 till:2017 color:LP text:"Vanessa Goodwin (2009–2017)"  from:2010 till:2016 color:ID text:"Adriana Taylor (2010–2016)"  from:2011 till:2020 color:ID text:"Rosemary Armitage (2011–present)"  from:2013 till:2020 color:LP text:"Leonie Hiscutt (2013–present)"  from:2017 till:2020 color:AL text:"Sarah Lovell (2017–present)"  from:2017 till:2020 color:AL text:"Jo Siejka (2017–present)"  from:2018 till:2020 color:LP text:"Jane Howlett (2018–present)"  from:2019 till:2020 color:ID text:"Meg Webb (2019–present)"  from:2020 till:2020 color:ID text:"Jo Palmer (2020–present)"  barset:skip
See also