Bloody Howard! Gender, Leadership, and the Decline of the Liberal Party of Australia as the “Party for Women”

Women played a key role in the founding of the Liberal Party of Australia (LPA) in 1944 and in providing its branch structure. The newly established LPA also sought to encourage women to join the party and to seek political office. This led the LPA to achieve most of the “firsts” for women in Australian politics and, for much of the 20th century, the party enjoyed more support from women than from men. A significant shift occurred in the 1980s, however, leading to its transformation from a party of choice for women to one that increasingly lost favour with them. This article is the first to trace this transformation, exploring the influence of leaders on the party's ideology and the changing prioritisation of women's issues.