Q. Currently there are 43 (out of 150) federal MPs who are women. To what extent to you agree or disagree with the following reasons why there are fewer women than men in parliament?
| Strongly agree + Somewhat agree | Somewhat disagree + Strongly disagree | Strongly agree | Somewhat agree | Somewhat disagree | Strongly disagree | Don’t know | |
| Political parties do not do enough to ensure gender equality in their organisations | 57% | 30% | 22% | 35% | 19% | 11% | 14% |
| The process used by political parties to select electoral candidates favours men, rather than women | 54% | 28% | 20% | 34% | 17% | 11% | 18% |
| Women choose not to get involved with politics | 47% | 41% | 12% | 35% | 23% | 19% | 12% |
| Voters prefer to elect men, rather than women | 39% | 46% | 10% | 29% | 28% | 18% | 15% |
| Women are less likely than men to have the experience and skills to make a good politician | 20% | 72% | 7% | 14% | 23% | 49% | 8% |
Over half of all people agreed that “Political parties do not do enough to ensure gender equality in their organisations” (57%), “The process used by political parties to select electoral candidates favours men, rather than women” (54%) and disagreed that “Women are less likely than men to have the experience and skills to make a good politician” (72%).
| Total
(Strongly agree + Somewhat agree) |
Male | Female | 18-34 | 35-54 | 55+ | |
| Political parties do not do enough to ensure gender equality in their organisation | 57% | 53% | 61% | 59% | 55% | 56% |
| The process used by political parties to select electoral candidates favours men, rather than women | 54% | 50% | 57% | 56% | 48% | 57% |
| Women choose not to get involved with politics | 47% | 50% | 44% | 43% | 44% | 53% |
| Voters prefer to elect men, rather than women | 39% | 38% | 40% | 46% | 37% | 35% |
| Women are less likely than men to have the experience and skills to make a good politician | 20% | 25% | 15% | 29% | 17% | 15% |
By gender, males were more likely than females to agree that “Women choose not to get involved with politics” (50% vs. 48%) and “Women are less likely than men to have the experience and skills to make a good politician” (25% vs. 15%).
| Total
(Strongly agree + Somewhat agree) |
Labor | Liberal + National | Greens | NET: Other | |
| Political parties do not do enough to ensure gender equality in their organisation | 57% | 64% | 51% | 70% | 51% |
| The process used by political parties to select electoral candidates favours men, rather than women | 54% | 65% | 48% | 64% | 45% |
| Women choose not to get involved with politics | 47% | 41% | 56% | 38% | 52% |
| Voters prefer to elect men, rather than women | 39% | 40% | 42% | 45% | 35% |
| Women are less likely than men to have the experience and skills to make a good politician | 20% | 16% | 27% | 14% | 19% |
Over half of voters for all political parties agreed that “Political parties do not do enough to ensure gender equality in their organisation”.