Cost-of-living pressure is set to feature as a key issue in the federal election, but major parties are being warned gender equality and women's rights remain important to voters.
The incumbent Labor government has 52 per cent women across both chambers of parliament with an equal split of men and women in cabinet, while the Liberal Party trails with nine women in the House of Representatives and 29 per cent women overall.
The gender breakdown of candidates remains in the spotlight as parties proceed with pre-selecting candidates for the 2025 vote.
So far, 54 per cent of candidates announced for Labor are women, compared to 32 per cent of Liberal candidates. Nearly 60 per cent of Greens candidates are female while 65 per cent of independents running are women.
Asked about why the Liberal Party had so far pre-selected fewer women than men, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said he "of course" wants greater female representation.
"We want to see more women running in seats, and we have some incredible candidates," he told reporters in January.
"We have some incredible candidates and we have more pre-selections to take place between now and when this parliament dissolves, so I'll have more to say about that in due course."
Mr Dutton said while "faceless union bosses" decide candidates for Labor, Liberals had a "democratically based process" where party members made the final decision.
Gender issues would be as salient at the 2025 election as they were in 2022, Women's Electoral Lobby member Dr Mary O'Sullivan said.
"The polls so far are showing a growing gender gap in relation to voting intentions," she told AAP.
"And that means that women are still critical in terms of the vote for all political parties."
Dr O'Sullivan said while both major parties appreciated the critical role of female voters, the Liberal Party appeared to be angling for the male vote.
"Rather than trying to attract women systematically, especially those women who voted against them in the last election, (the Liberal Party) are attempting to compensate for what they think may be an ongoing loss by marshalling and mobilising young and older men," she said.
"They're struggling because they don't have enough women ... and so then go into a default style of masculinity.
"The style of masculinity they're opting for is tough, hard, relentless and without empathy or sympathy."
Pamela Anderson, the chief executive of Emily's List Australia which supports female Labor candidates, predicts the election will be tough for both parties as Australians struggle with the rising costs of living.
But she notes that in three seats with retiring Labor MPs - Brendan O'Connor in Gorton, Bill Shorten in Maribyrnong and Linda Burney in Barton - all had been replaced by pre-selected female candidates.
"At the moment Australia enjoys international recognition as a country that has female representation at a high level," Ms Anderson said.
"It's quite concerning to think that if Labor doesn't win, that level substantially drops to a level we haven't seen since the 1990s."
Australian women in particular had a lot to lose depending on the outcome of the election, Ms Anderson added.
"Women especially need to be aware that having gender-focus budgets and women's health front-of-mind in government is because of women being at the table," she said.
"It's not by accident. It's because of 30 years of hard work."
