The claim

The role of women in national decision-making has come up again, this time in an interview between 3AW's Neil Mitchell and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

While praising his colleague Julie Bishop, Mr Turnbull said: "... and of course I have more women in my cabinet than any previous government."

His claim was rebuked shortly afterwards by Deputy Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek. Responding on Twitter, she said it "[s]eemed Mr Turnbull lied" and that there were in fact more women in cabinet during the last Labor government.

Loading

So does the Turnbull Government have more women in cabinet than any previous government?

RMIT ABC Fact Check takes a look.

The verdict

Mr Turnbull is wrong.

There are now five women in cabinet, but when Kevin Rudd returned to lead the Labor government in 2013, he appointed a record six female cabinet members.

Until Sussan Ley resigned in January 2017, Mr Turnbull was entitled to say he had the same number of women in cabinet as Mr Rudd, but he has never had more than any previous government.

In percentage terms, women fared best under Mr Rudd's leadership, making up 30 per cent of the cabinet.

Under Mr Turnbull, that ratio was initially 27 per cent and has now dropped to 24 per cent.

What the numbers say

Fact Check has written before about the history of women in federal cabinet, finding that just two women held cabinet positions before 1983.

And until 1996, there was only ever one woman in cabinet at a time.

Data from the latest Parliamentary Handbook reveals that the number of women only began to trend upwards late in John Howard's 2001–2004 term as prime minister.

Since then, female representation in cabinet was lowest after Tony Abbott became prime minister in 2013.

Before Sussan Ley became health minister in December 2014, the only woman in Mr Abbott's inner ministry was Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

Mr Turnbull made some changes when he took the top job. In September 2015 he promoted Michaelia Cash, Kelly O'Dwyer and Marise Payne into cabinet, and in February 2016 added Fiona Nash, taking the total number of women to six.

That's more women than in any previous Liberal-National government.

In fact, it's more than Mr Turnbull's current government. Ms Ley resigned her portfolio in January 2017, leaving five women in cabinet.

Kevin Rudd also led a cabinet with six women when he returned for his final three months as prime minister. His team included Tanya Plibersek, Penny Wong, Julie Collins, Jacinta Collins, Catherine King and Jenny Macklin.

So, at best, there were as many women in Mr Turnbull's previous cabinet as there were in Mr Rudd's last cabinet.

In proportional terms, Mr Rudd is ahead.

Mr Turnbull's current cabinet has 21 members, so 24 per cent are women. In 2016, when he had six women in a cabinet of 22, the ratio was 27 per cent.

By comparison Mr Rudd's 2013 cabinet had six women out of 20, meaning they accounted for 30 per cent of the membership.

Sources