What the abolition of the seat of Higgins tells us about the way the political system treats women candidates

Are women being set up to fail?

On April 20 this year, Browen Bock and Lucy Bradlow launched their job-sharing candidacy for the federal seat of Higgins in Victoria. Not long after, the AEC Redistribution Committee announced that Higgins was one of the seats they were recommending be abolished as part of their regular review of electoral boundaries. In this guest post, the two candidates explain how this decision, and the way in which it was made, speaks to bigger structural problems in how our electoral politics treats women.

Let’s start with a simple, complex proposition: we need more women in political leadership. To achieve that goal, and to make such equity a lasting part of our political landscape, we need to think creatively about the structural reforms that might be available to us. How might we do this?

Labor has said they are addressing the issue, and it is important to recognise that their 2023-24 Women’s Budget Statement does so directly:

The Government is committed to driving the actions needed to progress…