A record 57 women will enter the New South Wales parliament this week, but the state's proportion of women lawmakers lags behind most other Australian parliaments.
At the March state election 38 women were elected to the lower house and together with the 19 women in the upper house, they bring the proportion of women in the parliament to 42 per cent.
It is a big increase on the 34 per cent of women in the previous parliament and a long way from the 27 per cent of women in parliament back in 2007.
However, it still falls short compared to most other Australian parliaments.
The Northern Territory, the Australian Capital Territory and the Tasmanian parliaments have all reached gender parity, with Victoria close behind at 49 per cent.
Liberal MP Stephanie Di Pasqua was elected to the Sydney seat of Drummoyne in March and said the record number of women in the new parliament gave her hope.
"Representation matters. It's important that the community sees in their leaders people like themselves," she said.
"We are now on a path to gender parity. It's the first time we've had federal and state MPs in our area [who] are both female."
At 27, Ms Di Pasqua is one of the youngest MPs in the new parliament and said it was humbling to be elected.
"Not a lot of members look like me. Representation and diversity matters to get different opinions in government," she said.
She said having more than 40 per cent of women in the Liberal party room was a good result.
However the Liberal and National parties still have some way to catch up to Labor.
On the government side, 47 per cent of MPs are women and there's a 50:50 gender split in the Minns ministry.
This week, the Law Society of NSW reported that the legal profession has reached gender parity across all sectors, with the number of women solicitors equal to or greater than the number of men.
Michelle Ryan — director of the Global Institute for Women's Leadership at the Australian National University — said women were often subjected to a "glass cliff" in politics.
"This idea that, even if women are put forward as candidates, they're more likely to be put forward in sort-of unwinnable seats," she said.
She said in the New South Wales election, 44 per cent of the candidates that Labor preselected were women, but they had a 54 per cent success rate.
For the Liberals, 32 per cent of the candidates selected were women, but only 36 per cent of them were elected.
"So they just weren't in winnable seats," she said.
State Environment Minister Penny Sharpe said the parliament should look like "our people".
"Not because it is a good thing to do, but because it guarantees that the diversity of experiences in our community are at the table when decisions are made," she said.
"Ensuring that 50 per cent of our representatives are women is something Labor committed to through our rules.
"It has taken 29 years to get there, but I am proud to say that we achieved this and the parliament will be better for it."
The upper house member said she was the first woman to lead the government in the almost 200-year history of the Legislative Council.
Ms Ryan said that, if all parties had quotas for women, gender parity would be reached at the next election.
"I think there's a lot of resistance within the Liberals and Nationals vote for quotas. That's all they need to do. It's really simple. It's proven. We know it works."
Labor introduced quotas to get more women into parliament in 1994.
New Liberal Leader Mark Speakman said the party's parliamentary team included outstanding newly elected female MPs.
"Sixty per cent of the newly elected Liberal MPs are women and they will make a great contribution to our work representing the community," he said.
He said female representation had improved from 28 per cent to 43 per cent from the last election, achieved with training and mentoring from the Liberal Women's Council.
"There's more to do, but this is great progress without quotas, achieved by supporting female Liberals."
