Gender in politics
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”.
Gender quotas
Q. To what extent do you support or oppose political parties setting gender quotas when selecting candidates to achieve a representative number of women in parliament?
| Total | Male | Female | Aged 18-34 | Aged 35-54 | Aged 55+ | |
| NET: Support | 46% | 45% | 48% | 59% | 44% | 38% |
| NET: Oppose | 40% | 44% | 36% | 29% | 40% | 49% |
| Strongly support | 18% | 17% | 19% | 26% | 14% | 14% |
| Somewhat support | 29% | 28% | 29% | 33% | 30% | 24% |
| Somewhat oppose | 20% | 21% | 19% | 16% | 19% | 22% |
| Strongly oppose | 20% | 23% | 18% | 12% | 21% | 26% |
| Don’t know | 14% | 12% | 16% | 12% | 16% | 14% |
Just under one in five (18%) strongly support the introduction of gender quotas when selecting political candidates. Overall support was highest among 18-34 years olds (59%).
| Total | Labor | Liberal + National | Greens | NET: Other | |
| NET: Support | 46% | 59% | 37% | 65% | 32% |
| NET: Oppose | 40% | 30% | 50% | 22% | 52% |
| Strongly support | 18% | 24% | 13% | 27% | 11% |
| Somewhat support | 29% | 36% | 24% | 38% | 22% |
| Somewhat oppose | 20% | 17% | 22% | 16% | 25% |
| Strongly oppose | 20% | 14% | 29% | 6% | 28% |
| Don’t know | 14% | 10% | 12% | 13% | 15% |
Support for gender quotas was highest among Greens voters (65%), followed by Labor (59%). Under half of Coalition voters (37%) were in support.
Attributes to describe the Prime Minister – Gender difference
Q. Which of the following describe your opinion of the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard?
| Total | Male | Female | |
| Intelligent | 81% | 79% | 84% |
| Hard-working | 82% | 80% | 83% |
| A capable leader | 59% | 57% | 61% |
| Demanding | 58% | 62% | 54% |
| Arrogant | 39% | 38% | 39% |
| Out of touch with ordinary people | 44% | 47% | 41% |
| Understands the problems facing Australia | 55% | 53% | 56% |
| Visionary | 38% | 38% | 38% |
| Good in a crisis | 46% | 46% | 46% |
| Narrow-minded | 35% | 38% | 31% |
| Down to earth | 62% | 60% | 65% |
| Too inflexible | 36% | 40% | 33% |
| Complacent | 31% | 34% | 28% |
| More honest than most politicians | 37% | 39% | 35% |
| Trustworthy | 42% | 45% | 39% |
COVID-19 RESEARCH
Read Essential's ongoing research on the public response to Covid-19.
Essential Report
In this week's report:
- Performance of Scott Morrison
- Performance of Anthony Albanese
- Preferred Prime Minister
- Views towards re-electing the federal Coalition government
- Party trust to handle issues
- Importance of Australia’s international reputation
- Scott Morrison’s impact on Australia’s international reputation
- Views towards Australia’s international reputation
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