When Sussan Ley made history as the first woman to take the reins of Australia's Liberal Party, she insisted this was a pivotal moment for the party. But to many, Ley's glass ceiling looked an awful lot like a 'glass cliff' – a phenomenon where women and other minorities are promoted to leadership roles during times of crisis, setting them up for a high risk of failure. Elected as leader after the most resounding election defeat in the history of the modern Liberal Party and amid internal party chaos, Ley didn't even survive a year. On Friday she was pushed out by Angus Taylor, who argued she didn't have what it takes to turn the opposition's fortunes around. He won a leadership ballot 34 to 17, with Senator Jane Hume elected as his deputy. Ley's backers claim she was never given the chance to succeed, with some saying gender played a role. Her opponents say her demise has nothing to do with that and everything to do with performance. The messy saga has reignited conversations in Australia about its progress towards making its politics look more like its population. 'There was just crisis on every front… it's classic glass cliff,' says Michelle Ryan, Director of the Global Institute for Women's Leadership and one of the researchers who coined the term. From her very first press conference as leader, Ley was aware of what this looked like. She and her supporters insisted she had been selected exactly for this moment, because she was the right person to lead the Coalition through it. Some critics say the idea of a glass cliff itself is offensive, that it diminishes women's achievements and assumes they can't successfully lead out of a crisis. 'As far as political analysis goes, it is just wrong,' Ley wrote in an op-ed for the Women's Agenda shortly after she took over. 'I earned my shot.' Few are saying she didn't. But the Liberal Party famously passed over Julie Bishop in 2018, an electorally popular and long-serving minister. Political observers say there was a sense Ley was only keeping the seat warm for Taylor. The glass cliff phenomenon doesn't paint the true picture of Ley's tenure though, says Niki Savva, a veteran political commentator and former Liberal Party advisor. 'Maybe a tiny bit, but that is not the real reason… Sussan Ley is the architect of her own fortunes.'