Australia

The Australian Defence Force needs to embrace a new era of cultural change that will allow greater prospects for the recruitment and promotion of women within its depleted ranks.
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Over two decades later, Australian women are still under-represented in leadership and decision-making roles in both the public and private spheres despite comprising 50.6 percent of the country's total population and 45 percent of the country’s total workforce.

"In recent years, the percentage of female candidates and members of parliament has been falling, as I believe women look at the success rate and decide to give it a miss," said Troeth, who was first elected to the Federal Senate in 1993 at age 52.

Australia got its first female prime minister on Thursday after the ruling party dumped Kevin Rudd and installed his deputy as leader.
Julia Gillard will lead the government to elections due within months.
She stood unopposed at a vote of the Labor Party's 112 lawmakers at a meeting Thursday, hours after a revolt against Rudd.
"I feel very honored," she told reporters afterward.

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Prime Minister Julia Gillard has declared that marriage rights for same-sex couples are imcompatible with Australian culture and heritage one day after hundreds demanded their rights in Sydney and Brisbane. When asked if she was expressing a personal view or what she thought Australians wanted to hear, Gillard said she would have said the same thing had she never entered politics, pitching herself as a social conservative.

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