Twice as many men as women: Coalition’s mixed progress on gender equality

The Coalition has failed to increase its proportion of female candidates for the House of Representatives ahead of the federal election due by May, despite a party review blaming men’s dominance of the Liberal and National parties for contributing to the Morrison government’s 2022 loss.

Preselection data reveals women only make up 32 per cent of Coalition candidates selected so far for the lower house in the 2025 election, the same proportion as the 2022 election, but 10 are running to take marginal seats off other parties, which could provide a substantial boost to the number of conservative women in parliament.

Data reveals the Coalition is running the same proportion of women at this election as in 2022, but a substantial number are in winnable seats.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The Coalition’s halting progress on female representation risks repeating the party’s issues at the 2022 election, when six women won former Liberal heartland seats for the teal movement and frontrunner Zali Steggall held former prime minister Tony Abbott’s old northern Sydney electorate.

Labor Assistant Minister for Women Kate Thwaites said parliament should properly represent Australians through having strong female representation.

“If we are going to achieve gender equality, it’s important that is reflected in our parliament with the candidates selected,” she said.

“Having women at the table and a diversity of views represented is important for strong policies that best serve the Australian people.”

The Coalition and Labor have not yet selected all their House of Representative candidates, and the analysis does not include the Senate, which is where several high-profile Liberal women including Jane Hume, Michaelia Cash and Anne Ruston hold seats.

Of the current 137 Coalition candidates for the lower house selected to date, 44 are women and 93 are men, but those statistics do not tell the full story because the major parties’ decision to run female candidates in seats that they stand a realistic chance to win is more significant than the overall figure.

Of those women, 23 are challenging an incumbent MP from another party in a safe seat – meaning they must overcome a margin of 6 per cent or more to win.

But 10 female Coalition candidates are running for marginal seats with buffers below 6 per cent, based on AEC data, making their chances of winning more likely, which could lead to a surge in the number of female Liberal and National MPs. Another nine Coalition women are incumbents, and two are running to replace Liberal MPs who are retiring or have turned against the party.

Charlotte Mortlock, the co-founder of Liberal women’s advocacy group Hilma’s Network, said the party was running outstanding women at this election but acknowledged there was more room for progress.

Charlotte Mortlock’s group Hilma’s Network tracks the number of Liberal women in parliaments.Credit: Edwina Pickles

“While progress has not been uniform, we are making monumental inroads,” she said. “Hilma’s Network is thrilled with the calibre of women the party has attracted to run for this election as we know it will be a magnet for more women to join us at a grassroots level and to run themselves.”

The Labor Party currently has 121 candidates and of those 66 are women and 55 are men. Fifteen Labor women are challenging in another party’s safe seats while 12 are running for marginal seats that could be more winnable.

At the 2022 election, of the 151 Coalition lower house candidates, 49 were women and 102 were men. For Labor in 2022, 44 per cent of candidates were women and 56 per cent were men.

The Australian Election Study conducted by ANU found a gender vote gap existed for the two parties in 2022. For men, 38 per cent gave their first preference to a House of Representatives Coalition candidate, while only 32 per cent of women did so.

For Labor, the trend is the opposite: 36 per cent of women gave their first preference to a Labor candidate while only 32 per cent of men gave their vote to the party.

After the last election, the Liberal party reviewed its loss – which was co-authored by Coalition finance spokeswoman Jane Hume. The report recommended the party reach 50 per cent gender representation in 10 years but also urged an increase in female representation as soon as possible, though it did not tell the party to put in quotas.

Hume did not comment when asked about the gender representation remaining stagnant at this stage and said preselection is for members of the party to decide.

“I’m proud of the strong female candidates that have been preselected,” she said.

“There are some extraordinary women running as candidates at this election, particularly in winnable seats.”

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