By STEPHANIE PEATLING
EXCLUSIVE
NSW lags behind almost every parliament in Australia when it comes to the representation of women, new research shows.
There are 254 women in state and federal parliaments, or 30.8 per cent of MPs, in the country, according to research to be released tomorrow to mark International Women's Day.
The best performer was the Australian Capital Territory, where women make up 41.2 per cent of its Legislative Assembly.
Queensland, the Northern Territory and South Australia followed.
Federal Parliament came in sixth on the list, with women making up 30.1 per cent of lower and upper house members.
But NSW came second last on the list with only 38 - or 28.1 per cent - of its 135 members women, the paper produced by the Parliamentary Library shows
In a separate study by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Australia lags behind countries including Rwanda, Sweden and Cuba and is on a par with Afghanistan, coming an equal 32 in the percentage of women holding lower house or single house seats in parliament.
Families and Community Services Minister Jenny Macklin said: ''There's just an expectation that women will stand up and it's just normal, it's not that commented on.''
Women were now winning safe seats, she said, which gave them a chance to be in Parliament for longer.
''If you keep preselecting women into marginal seats it's harder to get into cabinet because they don't get the experience. [Deputy Prime Minister] Julia Gillard and [Health Minister] Nicola Roxon have safe seats and so they can expect to have long careers.''
Ms Macklin said the increase in the number of women interested in politics was partly due to the example set by female MPs with young children.
''Women like [Victorian MP] Catherine King are showing that it's possible,'' she said. ''We want the Parliament to be representative and made up of people who know what being a parent is all about.''
Special praise went to Ms Gillard who made politics look ''enjoyable as well as a lot of work''.
The Labor Party tends to have more women because it has a quota for the number of female MPs but the Coalition and minor parties are catching up.
Ms Macklin singled out the National Party. Women now make up 17.3 per cent of Nationals MPs nationwide.