MAKING HISTORY

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 309, 24 September 1943, Page 10

MAKING HISTORY

Australian Women In Parliament

As Parliament House, Canberra, was designed exclusively for men, the presence of two women in Parliament lias somewhat upset Australian tradition. A room each, however, has now been allotted to the'newly-elected women members, Miss Dorothy Tangney, Australia’s first woman Senator, and Daine Enid Lyons, the first woman M.H.R.

As the popular wife of the former Prime Minister, the ' late Mr. Joseph Lyons, and also us one of the finest women speakers in the Commonwealth, Dame Enid is well known to the world, and even in London her charm and winning personality made her an outstanding figure. But Miss Tangney, who resigned from a school teaching position to contest the election, lias not been so much in the public eye. She is 33, and is at present working on a thesis for her M.A. degree. She is a cousin of the late IVing Commander Paddy Finucane and has one brother with the A.I.E. in New Guinea and another with the 11.A.A.F. She is keenly interested in women’s problems and anxious to help, promote their economic security, but is by no means a pronounced feminist.