Linda Reynolds: A level playing field for all
“In working alongside senior female colleagues, I experienced firsthand empowered and engaged women benefit everyone.”
Almost 100 years ago, Edith Cowan became the first woman elected to an Australian parliament, in March 1921.
In Her Seat is asking as many currently serving female politicians as we can how they view gender equality, politics and their impact.
This is a non-partisan project that is soliciting contributions from women in all parties, or none at all, in every parliament.
Linda Reynolds is a Senator for Western Australia and Minister for Defence.
Growing up in the Perth hills, Linda joined the Army Reserves aged 19, igniting a passion for service. Her career in the military crossed a range of full and part-time appointments, rising to the rank of brigadier in 2012 and becoming the first woman in the Australian Army Reserve to be promoted to a star rank.
In tandem, Linda was operating at the national political level, including as Deputy Director of the Liberal Party of Australia and as Chief of Staff to a Commonwealth Minister and then as an executive in defence industry.
In May 2019 Linda was sworn in as Minister for Defence, previously having served as Minister for Defence Industry, Emergency Management and North Queensland Recovery and as Assistant Minister for Home Affairs.
Linda has also been a public advocate for more women in politics and has actively supported significant developments on gender equality.
What does gender equality mean to you?
There is no greater passion for me than the pursuit of equality and opportunity for women to reach their full potential.
I’m often asked what I think about quotas. Mand my response is this; quotas can change numbers, but they do not change culture and attitudes.
Gender equality means a genuinely level playing field for all.
This is the only way we can have enduring and long-lasting change.
Life is a journey we’re all on together and I want to see a future for young girls and boys where they can walk side by side.
Which female politicians have inspired or encouraged you?
Dame Elizabeth Couchman was an activist and political organiser and one of the most formidable women in Australia’s political history. Sir Robert Menzies once remarked she was “the greatest statesmen of them all.” She insisted on the equal representation of men and women in the Liberal Party and was a tireless mentor.
Edith Cowan was one of the most important figures in Australian history. She entered WA Parliament in 1921, the first woman elected to any Parliament in Australia. Championing women’s rights, fighting for sex education in schools, and pushing for women to be involved in legal professions, she paved the way for women in not only politics but in every workplace in Australia. Her work is far from finished.
What inspired you to serve your community?
My parents instilled in my brothers and I a strong sense of service and assisting others with a hand up.
I enlisted in the Army Reserves at age 19, and throughout my career in the Australian Defence Forces, I learned so many important skills which translate seamlessly into my political career.
In the Army I learned resilience, leadership and strength for which I will be forever grateful.
In working alongside senior female colleagues, I experienced firsthand empowered and engaged women benefit everyone. Early in both my military and civilian careers I had few women to look up to and aspire to but I am delighted this is no longer the case.
What are the most important contributions you are making in Parliament?
In 2018 as Assistant Minister for Home Affairs I took the Modern Slavery Act through the Senate, which remains one of my proudest moments.
During a trip to Cambodia in 2016 I became aware of an insidious form of child exploitation — orphanage tourism and orphanage trafficking.
Thousands of Australians are inadvertently supporting trafficking and institutionalisation of vulnerable children in so-called orphanages, often in slavery-like conditions.
I returned home determined to do everything to stop orphanage trafficking. And I did.
What is next for gender equality in politics?
Gender equality is not a ‘women’s’ issue, it is for us all.
We must look to the future believing women have a role to fully participate in leadership and decision-making, in every line of work.
The facts are very clear in and outside of politics: unless we have a proactive and positive approach to women’s socioeconomic outcomes and roles in leadership, the gender divide will never be breached.
Genuine equality will benefit us all.
In Her Seat interviews can be accessed here
