It took Australia's oldest political party 93 years to elect 28 women into federal parliament.
In the following three decades, federal Labor sent more than three times as many female MPs to Canberra in a third of the time.
The decision stemmed from a resolution at a 1994 Labor Party conference to put in place gender quotas for female MPs, which marked its 30th anniversary in September.
As the first female-majority federal government gathered to honour the milestone, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the conference had a "history-making consequence".
"Thanks to affirmative action, we have come to better reflect the society we are elected to represent. We have become more diverse, we have become more whole," he told a gathering of Labor MPs.
"With women doing so much to drive the steady broadening of our caucus and our perspective, we have become more representative, more truly Australian."
The original target laid out in 1994 called for 35 per cent female MPs and senators by 2002, 40 per cent by 2012 and 50 per cent by 2025.
The party reached its target of half of its elected representatives being women 10 years before the deadline.
Mr Albanese said the decision to implement gender quotas was an audacious step.
"Labor women have been responsible for so many firsts, and they will always have an honoured place in the Labor pantheon," he said.
"As we look to the future, we concentrate on ensuring that we don't just have firsts, but that we continue to have equal and diverse representation in our party."
Since federation, there have been 155 women who have served in the House of Representatives across all political parties, while 122 have been in the upper house.
While the coalition has not put in place gender targets, outgoing Queensland MP Karen Andrews said it was maybe time for the party to consider such a move.
"What I have seen over the last decade at least has made me soften my views into opposing quotas," she told parliament on Monday.
"The parliament of Australia needs to be a parliament that truly reflects the people of Australia, and that means that there are a number of groups, for want of a better way to describe it, that need representation within the parliament.
"One significant group is women."
