The Liberal party does not have a ‘women problem’. Men are the problem

‘Despite the tactic of crowding women behind the dispatch box where they will be seen for question time, there is no hiding that there are just nine women sitting with the Liberal party in the lower house.’ Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

After years of circular conversation it is time to call it what it is. The Liberal party does not have a “women problem”. They have a men problem. Or more specifically, a problem with men who do not want to cede space to give women a chance.

Scott Morrison belled the cat in 2019 when he told an International Women’s Day event that “we want to see women rise. But we don’t want to see women rise only on the basis of others doing worse.”