Gender and diversity in the federal election
Published: April 23, 2025
Blog
Election news is everywhere, and just this week, the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership (GLWL) published a report that shines a light on the gender and diversity balance in politics 1. It highlights progress on gender representation but shows that women in politics continue to face significant barriers. It's heartening to see women and diversity represented in the political landscape, but it’s equally important to ensure that all candidates have a fair and equal chance of success.
This report calls out the fact that women are over-represented in pre-selection to contest precarious or hard to win seats. In other words, women candidates at this election are experiencing the ‘glass cliff’ phenomenon.
Our current Parliament
The House of Representatives currently has a near 60/40 gender split, with 92 male representatives and 59 women though this varies considerably across parties. The ALP has 47% women and 53% men; the Coalition has 20% women and 80% men; the Greens have 25% women and 75% men; and the Crossbench, though only a small group of 14 representatives, comprises 71% women and 29% men.
When it comes to representing diversity, the parties are more closely matched. 32% of ALP representatives identify as being from a diverse background. This figure is 25% for both the Coalition and the Greens.
There are currently 591 candidates running for the federal election and the gender split across these candidates is 44.8% women, 54.8% men and 0.4% non-binary. 43% of Labor candidates and 29% of Coalition candidates are women.
What is the ‘glass cliff’ phenomenon?
The term ‘glass cliff’ was coined some 20 years ago and, while it’s perhaps not as widely recognised as the more familiar ‘glass ceiling’, it is arguably more insidious 2.
The glass cliff most often refers to a situation where a woman is elevated into a leadership role while an organisation is in the midst of a challenge or crisis 3. While these situations can certainly be seen to provide a career opportunity at surface level, they are also generally far more challenging to succeed in.
The glass cliff specifically refers to the level of precariousness faced by women in leadership when they step up and into a crisis. A glass cliff position commits a woman to an exceptionally challenging leadership role where the risk of failure is substantial. The cynical amongst us might go as far as to say that women in these situations are set up to fail.
The glass cliff in politics
The GLWL report identifies that 41% of MP’s contesting safe or fairly safe seats in this election are men compared to only 25% for women. With far more men in strong positions to win their safe seats, as a group they have a clear advantage heading into the election.
There are fewer women candidates to begin with, and those women running are over-represented in terms of contesting high-risk seats. They are facing more challenging electoral battles, sometimes very broadly recognised as ‘unwinnable’ seats, and so they face a higher risk of failure from the get-go.
The glass cliff effect disadvantages women candidates, while male candidates benefit from a higher likelihood of success as they contest safer and more readily won seats.
Why does this matter?
One of the more insidious elements of the glass cliff phenomenon is that when people take on the challenge of a crisis, or an unwinnable contest, they are more likely to struggle, burn-out or fail. The danger with the glass cliff phenomenon - over and above individual burn-out, economic, wellbeing and career impacts - is that the perceived failure of women in these situations can be used to reinforce negative gender stereotypes. These instances can be referenced to paint a picture that women are not as capable in political or leadership roles or that they lack the inherent skills and qualities to lead and succeed. These negative stereotypes delay progress towards true gender equality.
It’s absolutely vital that those representing us in parliament understand and reflect the diversity of the communities they serve. Achieving true gender equality and diversity in politics requires more than simply increasing the numbers of women and diverse people running for election. It requires a fundamental shift in how and where women and diverse candidates are positioned to run. Failure to address the glass cliff and the disproportionate pre-selection of women into challenging seats will result in a political landscape that continues to fall short of reflecting the diversity of the population.
It’s not good enough just to have more women running, we also need to know they are competing in a fair contest.