Seventeenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

In recent years, attempts to increase the representation of women in political parties, legislatures, and executives have been gaining momentum. Even throughout the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, movements, such as #MeToo and #LetHerSpeak, continued to amplify the experiences of women around the world. In Australia, allegations of sexual assault in the nation’s parliament in 2021 mobilised protests that sought to accelerate changes in addressing gender issues in the legislature. Within this context, this paper examines the enablers and barriers confronting women in participating in democratic events, such as voting, as well as joining political parties and running for public office in Australia. The paper explores the literature and presents the lived experience of young Australian women to shed light on the factors that may stop them from even considering becoming a parliamentary candidate. The paper uses data from the Social Futures and Life Pathways Project (also known as Our Lives) which is a longitudinal research project that began in 2006. Since this time, data has been gathered from a single age cohort of young people from the state of Queensland in Australia. The data from this project presents the perspectives of young women as to what may be done to address gender issues in liberal democracies in future.