Quote by Edith Cowan: “I place the children first, then the mother, and last of all the state.”

This inverts the political hierarchy of the time, which placed state interests at the top. Putting children and mothers before government is a statement that human welfare — particularly the welfare of those most vulnerable — should determine what governments do, not the other way around. It was radical in 1921.

Cowan was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly in 1921, becoming Australia's first female parliamentarian. Women had won the federal vote in Australia in 1902 but faced significant barriers to political participation. Her election came amid the post-World War I era when women's roles in public life were being fiercely contested across the Western world.

Australian politician and social reformer who became the first woman elected to any Australian parliament when she won a seat in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly in 1921. She campaigned for women's rights, child welfare, and legal reform throughout her public life. Her portrait appears on the Australian fifty dollar note.