Edith Cowan

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Edith Cowan in 1900

Edith Dircksey Cowan (born August 2, 1861 in Geraldton , Western Australia , † June 9, 1932 in Perth , Western Australia) was an Australian social reformer , child and women's rights activist . She was the first woman ever to be elected to an Australian parliament in 1921 . The women's suffrage in Western Australia was in the 1899 Constitution added. She is a well-known women's rights activist in Australia to this day.

Early life

Edith Cowan was born on a sheep station near Geraldton . Her father, Kenneth, was a dairy farmer and her mother, Mary Eliza Dircksey, née Wittenoom, was a teacher. When she was seven years old, her mother died. She was then placed in a boarding school. Her father subsequently fell into alcoholism , suffered from depression and murdered his second wife in an argument. In court, he refused legal help and was sentenced to death. Edith Cowan was then 16 years old. As an orphan, she lived with her grandmother in Guildford , a suburb of Perth, until she was 18 . When she was 18, she married James Cowan, a judge. She and her husband had four daughters and one son. She lived with her family alternately in two suburbs of Perth, West Perth and Cottesloe .

Political life

Edith Cowan was one of the founders of the so-called Karrakatta Club , the first association in Australia to campaign for the social rights of women. Above all, she campaigned for the education of publicly funded schools and for children's rights, especially for single mothers. In 1906 she was involved in the establishment of the Children's Protection Society ( child protection society involved). She stood up for the Children's Court , an institution that assisted children aged 10 to 17 in legal proceedings in Western Australia. This facility exists to this day (2019), but the maximum age is 18 years. During World War I Edith Cowan was a senior member of the Red Cross in Western Australia. She collected clothing and food for soldiers and looked after them when they returned. For this she was awarded the British Order of the British Empire in 1920 . In the same year she was appointed justice of the peace .

Letter from Edith Cowan on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Western Australia

In 1921 she was the first woman ever to be elected to an Australian parliament. Their election victory was extremely narrow with a majority of 46 votes. She was the second woman to win a seat in a British Empire parliament in an election . She held her mandate in the Legislative Assembly , the lower house of Western Australia, for the Nationalist Party of Australia . She introduced a law in parliament that allowed women who could prove a qualification as a lawyer to defend accused persons in court proceedings . In addition, this law permitted other professional activities that were also prohibited for women. In doing so, she made an important contribution to equal rights for women in Australia. She lost her seat in the House of Commons when she was re-elected in 1924 and also failed to win a seat in 1927. Edith Cowan then devoted herself to offices in the Anglican Church , in women's shelters and in the hospital in Perth as well as in children's hospitals.

Aftermath

The house where Edith Cowan lived from 1883-1896 and 1912-1919 is a listed building

Edith Cowan's portrait has been on the 50 dollar bill of the Australian currency since 1995 . On this note, which was placed on the market in October 2018, your inaugural speech in parliament is printed in the form of a microscope text that contains a typo in the word responsibility with 'responsibilty'. "It is a great responsibility to be the only woman here, and I want to emphasize the necessity which exists for other women being here." (German: "It is a great responsibility to be the only woman here [in Parliament], and I want to emphasize the need that exists for other women who are here. ”) This typo received attention beyond Australia.

Edith Cowan University was named after Edith Cowan in 1991 , the first Australian university to be given a women's name. The Cowan constituency was named after her. The Edith Dircksey Cowan Memorial , which stands at the entrance to Kings Park in Perth, bears her name. In 1975, her likeness was featured on a stamp in the Australian Women Stamps Series . The house where Edith Cowan lived in Perth from 1883-1896 and 1912-1919 was u. a. also entered into a list of historical monuments in 2016 in her honor.

Web links

Commons : Edith Cowan  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Margaret Brown: Edith Dircksey Cowan (English), from 1981, on Australian Dictionary of Biography . Retrieved May 13, 2019
  2. ↑ Claire Wright: Cowan, Edith Dircksey , on Woman and Leadership. Retrieved May 13, 2019
  3. ↑ a b Cowan, Edith Dircksey (1861-1932) (English), from 1932, on Project Gutenberg. Retrieved May 9, 2019
  4. ^ Children's Court of Western Australia (English), on Government of Western Australia. Retrieved May 9, 2019
  5. ↑ Defining Moments. Edith Cowan , (English), at National Museum of Australia . Retrieved May 14, 2019
  6. ↑ Edith Cowan 1861-1932 (PDF), on civicsandcitizenshio.edu.au. Retrieved May 12, 2019
  7. ↑ New $ 50 note contains typo in word 'responsibility', discovered months after 46 million notes distributed , on Australian Broadcasting Corporation , dated May 12, 2019
  8. ↑ Printed 46 million times: Australia issues banknotes with spelling mistakes (English), May 9, 2019, on Spiegel Online . Retrieved May 9, 2019
  9. ↑ Cowan honored in stone and polymer , on Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved May 14, 2019
  10. ^ Australian Women stamps Series , on Australian Stamps. Retrieved May 14, 2019
personal data
SURNAME Cowan, Edith
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cowan, Edith Dircksey (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian social reformer, child and women's rights activist
DATE OF BIRTH August 2, 1861
PLACE OF BIRTH Geraldton , Western Australia
DATE OF DEATH June 9, 1932
Place of death Perth , Western Australia