Of the 62 seats identified by the Australian Electoral Commission as marginal and seats where the sitting member is retiring or has been disendorsed by their party, 26 will be contested by two men from the major parties and 14 will be contested by two women.
The 44th Parliament, which was officially dissolved on Monday, included 72 female MPs - above the average for the past four parliaments of 64.25 female members - out of a total 226 elected representatives. Advertisement
While some preselections are yet to be finalised by the major parties, Labor will stand at least 47 lower house female candidates. The Coalition will stand at least 32, compared with 43 from the Greens. There are 150 seats in the lower house.
Dr Stone said it was disappointing fewer women would be part of the 45th Parliament.
"If you are going on the number of women like myself who are retiring and have been replaced by preselected male candidates, and all those guys got up, the expectation is we would probably go down to lower than we are now," she said.
"Men and women do come from different perspectives and life experiences, and its been well researched that boards and management groups have better outcomes for their shareholders when there's more balanced numbers of men and women in leadership."
Last year, Labor's national conference voted to boost the number of female MPs in the party to 50 per cent by 2025. Labor first introduced targets for women MPs in the 1990s and the latest target for MPs and party officials will be reached in stages - growing to 45 per cent by 2022.
Read more in the Age
The 44th Parliament, which was officially dissolved on Monday, included 72 female MPs - above the average for the past four parliaments of 64.25 female members - out of a total 226 elected representatives. Advertisement
While some preselections are yet to be finalised by the major parties, Labor will stand at least 47 lower house female candidates. The Coalition will stand at least 32, compared with 43 from the Greens. There are 150 seats in the lower house.
- Dr Stone, who is leaving politics after 20 years, is expected to be replaced in her safe Victorian seat of Murray by either Liberal candidate Duncan McGauchie or Nationals candidate Damian Drum.
- Former speaker Bronwyn Bishop is expected to be replaced by Liberal Jason Falinski, while voters in retiring Queensland MP Teresa Gambaro's seat of Brisbane can choose between Liberal Trevor Evans or Labor's Pat O'Neill.
- In Western Australia, voters in Alannah MacTiernan's seat of Perth will also choose between two male candidates, Liberal Jeremy Quinn or Labor's Tim Hammond.
Dr Stone said it was disappointing fewer women would be part of the 45th Parliament.
"If you are going on the number of women like myself who are retiring and have been replaced by preselected male candidates, and all those guys got up, the expectation is we would probably go down to lower than we are now," she said.
"Men and women do come from different perspectives and life experiences, and its been well researched that boards and management groups have better outcomes for their shareholders when there's more balanced numbers of men and women in leadership."
Last year, Labor's national conference voted to boost the number of female MPs in the party to 50 per cent by 2025. Labor first introduced targets for women MPs in the 1990s and the latest target for MPs and party officials will be reached in stages - growing to 45 per cent by 2022.
Read more in the Age
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