Australia gets first female governor general

Nearly 40 years after Germaine Greer wrote The Female Eunuch, Australian women are still struggling to achieve equality in public life. Today a major landmark was reached when Quentin Bryce was sworn in as the country’s first female governor-general.

The vice-regal office is, of course, one that republican-minded Australians believe should be abolished. But with no prospect of that happening soon, they are pleased with the choice of a forthright and formidably intelligent ice-cool blonde, who, it is rumoured, has strong republican leanings herself.

Ms Bryce, 65, has been a lawyer, academic, sex discrimination commissioner and, for the past five years, Queensland’s state governor. A mother of five children, and a grandmother, she is known for her steely composure and flawlessly elegant appearance. She has, reportedly, never owned a pair of jeans.

Her career path, and public pronouncements, indicate a strong sense of social justice. She is passionate about human rights, Aboriginal disadvantage and women’s issues. But, as the Queen’s representative in Australia, Ms Bryce will be expected to steer clear of political controversy.

The office of governor-general has had a chequered history of late. Peter Hollingworth, a former Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane, was forced to resign in 2003, following revelations that he covered up child sexual abuse by priests and teachers while in charge of the diocese.

His successor, Major-General Michael Jeffery, a former SAS officer, was notable for being virtually invisible during his five years in the job – which was a relief to many, after the Hollingworth debacle.

Ms Bryce, who grew up in a small town in Outback Queensland, and whose husband, Michael, is an award-winning architect, is unlikely to maintain such a low profile. But her term in office may well coincide with a reigniting of the republican debate, which has been on the back burner since Australians rejected the idea of severing constitutional ties with Britain in a referendum in 1999.

The Labor Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, a republican, has promised that his government will look again at the issue, although not as a priority. In April, just before meeting the Queen, he said he expected “an accelerated public debate about the republic” during the year ahead, “and I welcome that”.

There was nothing to displease monarchists at today’s swearing-in ceremony, which was accompanied by traditional pomp and ceremony. Ms Bryce was greeted by a guard of honour at Parliament House in Canberra, where she swore allegiance to the Queen in front of an audience of politicians, government ministers and ambassadors.

With Mr Rudd at her elbow, Ms Bryce promised to uphold Australian traditions, but also “as I travel ? into the vibrant and struggling sectors of our community, to our rural and remote places forever deep in my heart ? to be open, responsive and faithful to the contemporary thinking and working of Australian society”. A 21-gun salute ended the formalities.

While many Australians welcomed the appointment of the first female governor-general since independence from Britain in 1901, they were also reminded of continuing inequalities.

In the last year or so, the country has acquired its first female Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard; first female deputy Opposition leader, Julie Bishop; first female chief executive of a major bank, Gail Kelly; first female Anglican bishop, Kay Goldsworthy; and first female Queensland state premier, Anna Bligh.

However, women still account for only one-quarter of lower house MPs, 13 per cent of judges, and six per cent of chief executives of top companies.