Women MPs waited decades for Parliament's first women's toilet
Australia's first female MPs in 1943 had to wait until 1974 for a women's toilet in Parliament.
When Dorothy Tangney and Enid Lyons became the first women elected to Federal Parliament in 1943, they walked into an old boys' club. The parliament building was designed for men.
There were no toilet facilities for women. Female MPs worked in a parliament that hadn't provided basic facilities for them.
In 1974, the government finally installed a women's toilet. A new children's book tells the story of these early women MPs.
A Loo of One's Own by Eleri Harris won the Eve Pownall Honour Book award this week. Harris illustrates the history with humour and Art Deco style, showing how capable women had to fight for basic recognition.
- Dorothy Tangney and Enid Lyons
- First female MPs
- 1943
- Year elected
- 31 years
- Years without facilities
- 1974
- Women's toilet installed
Why it mattersIt shows how recent women's equality in formal institutions is, and how slow change happens without pressure.
AustraliaThe book teaches Australian readers about gender barriers in Parliament and how women had to fight for the most basic recognition.
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