Australian Party Youth Wings as Political Boys Clubs

The two major Australian parties, the Liberal Party and the Australian Labor Party, have regularly claimed over the past two decades that they wish to increase their numbers of female grassroots members and representatives. One way of doing this is by recruiting more young women through their youth wings, which have long been a source of members, candidates and representatives. However, we know almost nothing about young women in Australian major party youth wings and whether their experiences are consistent with the parties’ stated goals. Based on over 60 interviews with the leadership teams of youth wing executives and senior party leaders across Australia in addition to a nationwide online survey of more than 1000 Young Liberals and Young Labor grassroots members, this study investigates the different reasons why men and women join youth wings, what their political aspirations are, and how the position of women within these organisations is viewed both by them and others. The paper finds that men far outnumber women in both Young Labor and the Young Liberals. Moreover, although similar percentages of men and women in the online survey say they would like to work for their senior party organisations, much fewer women than men agree they would like to one day become a candidate. Using the interview material, the paper then explores in depth the reasons behind the continuing imbalance between men and women in Australia’s youth wings, arguing that these largely remain perceived and perpetuated as political boys clubs.