The status of women

The first woman to be elected to the City of Port Melbourne Council was Anna Robieson in 1978. She also became Port's first female mayor.

Since then, women have been strongly represented on the Port Phillip Council and in the mayoralty - notably by Liana Thompson - last mayor of Port Melbourne and the first mayor of Port Phillip.  Lyn Allison, former Democrat Senator for Victoria was also on the Port Melbourne Council in the late eighties.

Port Phillip Council has fortunately been free of the 'gender wars' that have been such a feature of federal politics in recent times.
There has been strong bi-partisan support in the lead up to the 2012 Council elections to increase the number and diversity of women standing for council through the Think Women for Local Government Project 2012. At present, only 25% of councillors are women, and there are some councils that still have no women councillors.