High vis and hard hats versus the care economy

Abstract

Blair Williams and Marian Sawer examine how the 2022 federal election was a watershed in terms of women’s disaffection with the Morrison Government and its handling of ‘their’ issues. Women’s safety became a salient electoral issue, along with climate change and an integrity commission, and women Independents helped loosen the grip of the two-party system. This chapter examines how despite continuing revelations of women’s mistreatment in politics there was an increased number of women standing for the federal parliament and increased diversity in the forty-seventh parliament. The chapter also analyses the gendered nature of campaign discourses, whether centring on hardhats or the care economy, and assesses the nature of party offerings for women.