Editing History of Australia (section)

====Women====
[[File:ElizabethMacarthur.jpg|thumb|left|Businesswoman [[Elizabeth Macarthur]] helped establish the merino wool industry.]]

Women comprised only about 15% of convicts transported. Due to the shortage of women in the colony they were more likely to marry than men and tended to choose older, skilled men with property as husbands. The early colonial courts enforced the property rights of women independently of their husbands, and the ration system also gave women and their children some protection from abandonment. Women were active in business and agriculture from the early years of the colony, among the most successful being the former convict turned entrepreneur [[Mary Reibey]] and the agriculturalist [[Elizabeth Macarthur]].<ref>Karskens, Grace (2013). pp. 94, 112.</ref> One-third of the shareholders of the first colonial bank (founded in 1817) were women.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Frost|first=Lionel|title=The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I|year=2013|pages=323|chapter=The economy}}</ref>

One of the goals of the assisted migration programs from the 1830s was to promote migration of women and families to provide a more even gender balance in the colonies. Caroline Chisholm established a shelter and labour exchange for migrant women in New South Wales in the 1840s and promoted the settlement of single and married women in rural areas.<ref>{{cite book|last=Iltis|first=Judith|title=Biography – Caroline Chisholm – Australian Dictionary of Biography|publisher=Adbonline.anu.edu.au|chapter=Chisholm, Caroline (1808–1877)|access-date=14 July 2011|chapter-url=http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A010208b.htm}}</ref><ref>Macintyre (2020). p. 89</ref>

Between 1830 and 1850 the female proportion of the Australian settler population increased from 24 per cent to 41 per cent.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2014|title=3105.0.65.001 Australian Historical Population Statistics, 2014, Table 1.1|url=https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/3105.0.65.0012014|access-date=21 July 2021|publisher=Australian Bureau of Statistics}}</ref>