The 2019 Federal election failed to increase the cultural diversity of elected representatives’ and where diverse candidates, especially women, faced greater racism and abuse. The latest Julia Gillard Next Generation Intern report by Stephanie Milione, A Truly Representative Democracy, explores the challenges and opportunities women candidates face and how both ELA and the Australian Labor Party can best support women in the future.
The report will be released today by Ms Gillard AC and is the result of second Julia Gillard Next Generation Internship. It demonstrates that we must improve our support First Nation women and women from CALD backgrounds if they are to be elected.
This internship gives life to the shared vision of Ms Gillard and ELA to promote and make political life easier for the next generation of talented progressive women leaders.
Stephanie interviewed Indigenous and CALD Labor women candidates, former and current MPs, about their experience on the campaign trail. She also investigated the surge of women candidates in the 2018 midterm elections on a study tour of the USA visiting EMILY’s List USA, America Votes, Emerge America, the Center for American Women and Politics and the Women’s Campaign School at Yale University.
Quote from Ms Julia Gillard
“From my work at the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, I know the evidence shows diverse teams perform better. That means there is much to be gained if our parliaments are truly representative of our communities. Congratulations to Stephanie on being this year’s intern and shining a light on the unique challenges facing women from diverse backgrounds and how we can best support them to get preselected, elected and have a fair opportunity to become a future Prime Minister.”
Quote from Ms Stephanie Milione, the 2019 Julia Gillard Next Generation Intern
“The pipeline of talent needs to be fostered early and tandem quotas for diversity should be considered to give legitimacy to our system of representative democracy and arrest the decline in respect for our governments.”
Quote from Ms Tanja Kovac, National Co-Convenor of EMILY’s List Australia
“We take seriously our work to ensure women with intersecting attributes of difference and diversity win elections and will do all we can to implement the recommendations in this report. We thank the Australian Workers Union and Slater and Gordon Lawyers for their leadership in supporting the internship and sharing our vision.”
Media Contact: Tanja Kovac, National Co-Convenor 0419 910 577 / [email protected]