Liberals forget that women vote — and have paid the price

It appears the Coalition misjudged just how many women there are in Australia.

Women hold the slim majority of 51% of the nearly 17 million Australians enrolled to vote — many of whom are angry, tired and fed up with feeling like their government doesn’t listen to them. Professional women —  the single biggest voting cohort this election — led the way in turning Liberal seats teal. 

None of this should be news to political candidates: poll after poll showed women were undecided about who they’d vote for, didn’t trust prime minister Scott Morrison, and weren’t happy with the Coalition. 

Even in 2019 the disparity was apparent –just 35% of women put the Liberal Party first compared with 45% of men. (Comparable data has not yet been released about this election.)

It was a three-year term filled with allegations of sexual violence following the Me Too movement, report after report on gender rankings and workplace sexual harassment showing the dire situation, and lived experience of worsening conditions as women working on the COVID-19 frontlines dealt with low wages and extra caring roles. 

With already low support, it would make sense for the Liberals to attempt to appeal to angry, disenfranchised or undecided women. Instead Morrison set about making things worse.

There was a series of incredibly offensive blunders, from deflecting to his children when discussing rape to patting himself on the back when faced with reports of a toxic, misogynistic parliamentary workplace, to downplaying allegations against former cabinet ministers Christian Porter and Alan Tudge, denied by both men.

And it appears Morrison’s workplace-mandated safe and respectful workplaces training only got him so far. Women were left out across the election campaign, the Coalition apparently forgetting women have had the right to vote in this country for 120 years. 

Frontline workers didn’t get a mention from Morrison since the budget. In his concession speech, Morrison thanked the defence force, police and tradies — male-dominated industries that didn’t have to bear the brunt of COVID like healthcare workers, teachers and aged care workers. 

Despite changing his tune and voicing support for gender quotas within the Liberal Party last year, Morrison made no moves to improve representation; female candidates were overlooked to run in safe seats by both sides; and a number of Liberal women, including Fiona Martin in Reid, lost their seats. 

Instead he had Liberal woman after Liberal woman turn against him — from Julie Bishop declaring men in Parliament weren’t doing enough to advocate for women, to Bridget Archer crossing the floor over religious discrimination, to Julia Banks and Gladys Berejiklian abandoning the party. The list goes on. 

Morrison — after intense criticism in 2020 that he had forgotten women in the budget — instead dedicated much of this year’s funding to women, pledging cash to struggling domestic violence shelters. But he failed to address the root drivers of gendered violence or inequality, again focusing on policies that benefit men over women in his campaign launch. 

The closest Australia got to an admission that Morrison’s actions weren’t being received well was a promise to be less of a “bulldozer” and to change his leadership style.

This, however, was short-lived. He later said that — even after refusing to meet protesters on the day of the women’s March 4 Justice rally (telling women they should be grateful they weren’t shot) — if he had his time again he wouldn’t change a thing.

We knew it was coming. Women and strong female independents led the revolution against the Coalition. Morrison time and again underestimated the wrath of angry women — and it cost him the election. 

The results are a reason to smile for those who make up the largest voting cohort in Australia.