Loading Merit worked. Quotas just meant tokenism. Problem fixed. Yet in the years since, the organisational focus that helped elect the women in the early '90s died away, and since then the number of Liberal women MPs has ebbed and flowed with the electoral cycle. By 2002, almost all the women who were in the Victorian Legislative Assembly in 1992 and 1996 were out of the State Parliament. Most lost their seats. Only Louise Asher and Helen Shardey survived. Over the years this cycle has kept repeating. Today the Liberal Party has only four women in the Legislative Assembly, none of whom represents a metropolitan seat, and another four women in the Legislative Council. Through all of this, the Liberal Party has maintained that it preselects candidates “on merit” or through a “merit-based system”. Well, having been through it more than once, and watched and supported many other women through preselection, and having attended more preselections than I care to remember – I disagree. Many issues other than merit decide a preselection outcome.

Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Too often, men and women are treated very differently during preselection, which undermines the concept of merit, and our measure of merit is simply who has the numbers. Over the years almost all the initiatives to boost female numbers have been focused on potential women candidates, not the preselectors or the system. Even today, there is talk of encouraging more women to have the “confidence” to nominate. About five years ago I asked branch members what they think about women, preselection and the concept of merit through a very robust survey, conducted through a reputable polling company. It revealed that only 39 per cent of respondents agreed that Liberal candidates were always preselected on merit, and only 35 per cent believed that men and women were treated equally in preselection.

Loading Sixty-three per cent of respondents agreed it doesn’t matter if a candidate has young children, and 22 per cent were neutral on this issue. However, when the question was asked another way, specific to female candidates, the answer changed: 28 per cent agreed that women with young children can’t put in the hours they need to be an MP, with this view held most strongly by those aged 50 and over – who will usually be a majority of preselectors. I also found that 38 per cent of respondents agreed it’s OK to ask a woman who will look after her children if she is elected to Parliament - and yes, I’ve been asked that and I’ve watched (and heckled) as it was asked of other women. Let’s just focus on that question for a moment. There is no right answer, especially when it is asked by people who have the power to make or break your career, and frankly someone’s childcare arrangements are no on else’s business. I never asked that question when I was hiring staff in the private sector, and it’s likely there would have been legal consequences if I had. It is unsurprising that my research confirmed that many more women than men didn’t want to run for preselection at that time because of family commitments – 13 per cent of men compared with 28 per cent of women. Undoubtedly, this reduces the number of women who run, but my research also showed that 15 per cent of the women surveyed identified a process that favoured men as a barrier to more Liberal women in Parliament. This perception of itself is a likely barrier to participating. Why put your hand up if you perceive the process is stacked against you?

Why put your hand up if you perceive the process is stacked against you? Consistent with two significant studies undertaken in the United States, Liberal women were less likely than men to believe they were qualified to run for office (46 per cent of men compared with 27 per cent of women), and less likely to think they had the skills to be an effective MP (56 per cent of men but only 33 per cent of women). They were also much less likely than men to report that someone had suggested to them that they should try to run (53 per cent of men, 39 per cent of women). I named my report the Double Hurdle. The first hurdle is a woman’s own self-assessment of her readiness for preselection and whether she has what it takes to be an MP. The second is a preselection process that often treats men and women very differently, with motherhood identified as a key issue. These barriers to women’s advancement are not unique to the Liberal Party. Other political parties and the business world have had to face similar challenges, and make cultural and systemic changes to ensure that women get a much fairer go. It’s long past time that the Liberal Party did so too, and it’s an essential part of how it needs to rebuild after a devastating state election loss.