The Liberal party has a problem with women

Should some Liberal positions be reserved just for the ladies?

Should some Liberal positions be reserved just for the ladies?

The Liberal Party needs to elect more women to parliament through "temporary quotas" if they hope to hold power again soon, former defence minister Linda Reynolds says.

This year's election (which the Liberals lost) saw the lowest number of female Liberal MPs enter the House of Representatives in almost three decades, according to Reynolds’ analysis. 

The lack of representation has triggered a fresh debate amongst Liberal party members about whether some seats should be reserved just for women.

“I remain convinced we must implement enduring gender targets,” Senator Reynolds told The Australian. “In light of the outcome of the last election, I’m now also open to the concept of temporary quotas.”

Just nine of the Liberal Party’s 42 members (21%) in the House of Representatives are women. In fact, there are more men named ‘Andrew’ than Liberal women in the lower house.

The ratio is better in the Senate, with 10 female Liberal senators (38%) and 16 male Liberal senators.

Liberal Party policy doesn't support quotas on the basis that candidates should be preselected on “merit” alone, rather than their gender.

Liberal leader Peter Dutton "doesn't support quotas", leaving him at odds with deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley who is strongly advocating for them. 

What about the Labor party?

The Labor party introduced quotas back in 1994, saying 35% of its winnable seats at all elections would be filled by women by 2002.

The target has since been moved to 50% by 2025, not just for winnable seats, but for party positions across the board.

The party's quota system to achieve the goal requires 40% of all positions be held by women, 40% by men, and the rest by either gender.

Currently, 13/30 of Anthony Albanese’s ministers are women.

“This is an exciting team, a team which is overflowing with talent, with people who are absolutely committed to making a difference,” Albanese said when he unveiled his ministry last month.

“This is the largest number of women ever in an Australian cabinet with 10 women in the cabinet. In addition to that … there are 13 women in the ministry and 19 frontbenchers [which includes assistant ministers.”