Edith Cowan

Edith Cowan (born August 2, 1861, Glengarry, Western Australia—died June 9, 1932, Subiaco) was an Australian social reformer, women’s rights activist, and politician who focused on helping women and children. In 1921 she was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, becoming the first woman member of an Australian parliament.

Early life and marriage

Cowan was born Edith Brown in Glengarry, Western Australia. She was the second child of Kenneth Brown, a pastoralist, and Mary Eliza Dircksey Wittenoom, a teacher. Her mother died in 1868 while giving birth to her sixth child, who also died. Edith and her siblings were subsequently separated, and she was sent to a boarding school in Perth, Western Australia. In 1876, when Edith was a teenager, her father shot and killed his second wife after a domestic dispute. He was tried and hanged. Three years later, at age 18, Edith married James Cowan, and took his name. He later became a judge, and the couple went on to have five children: a daughter, Dircksey Constance Cowan (1880); their only son, Norman Walkinshaw Cowan (1882); and three more daughters, Hilda Edith Cowan (1883), Ida Marion Cowan (1885), and Helen May Burdett Cowan (1891).

Early social work

Edith Cowan’s traumatic childhood, coupled with details from her husband’s court cases—which she believed illustrated the effects of inadequate education, health care, and opportunities for women—steered her toward public service. In the 1890s Cowan began to join a number of volunteer organizations, including the Ministering Children’s League and the House of Mercy for unmarried mothers. In 1894 she helped found the Karrakatta Club, Australia’s first women’s club, which she served as secretary and later as president. The organization offered women a place to learn about the issues of the community, practice public speaking, and organize campaigns for women’s suffrage. Cowan was also a supporter of state education and served several terms as a member of the North Fremantle Board of Education, one of the few public offices open to women.

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Children’s Court and the King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women

At the turn of the century, Cowan continued to work tirelessly to improve the conditions for women, children, and others. In 1906 she helped found the Children’s Protection Society, an organization offering a variety of services for families, including a child care centre for working mothers. Moreover, the society helped pass the State Children Act of 1907, which created the Children’s Court to handle cases involving minors. In 1915 Cowan was made a magistrate of the Children’s Court and in 1920 a justice of the peace. Her work on women’s issues included the creation of the Western Australian National Council of Women and the Women’s Service Guild. Among other work, the guild led the campaign to open a maternity hospital, which became the King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women in Perth.

World War I and years in parliament

During World War I, Cowan worked with the Red Cross and established an institute that provided soldiers with meals. She was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1920 for her contribution to the war effort. Her accomplishments helped Cowan win a seat in the Western Australian parliament in 1921. During her tenure, she was instrumental in the passage of the Administration Act Amendment Bill of 1922, which gave the same inheritance rights to mothers as to fathers when their children died without a will and children of their own. Cowan also helped pass the Women’s Legal Status Act of 1923, which allowed women in Western Australia to become lawyers or to practice any other profession. Cowan lost her reelection bid in 1924, but she continued to be active in social work for the remainder of her life.

Additional honours

To honour Cowan’s dedication to education, Edith Cowan University was founded in Joondalup, Western Australia, in 1991. Since 1995 her image has appeared on the Australian $50 banknote.