Women hold 13 of coalition's 76 seats

Of the 76 lower house seats the coalition has bagged so far in this election, just 13 are held by women.

Michaelia Cash and Julie Bishop voting at Swanbourne Primary School in Perth on July 2. Source: AAP

Shortly after he became prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull declared gender diversity the key to winning elections.

Months later, he's scraped into government by the skin of his teeth and with less women on his team in the lower house.

Of the 76 seats the coalition has bagged so far, just 13 are held by women.

The government lost a swag of seats in this election, and several women along the way, including Natasha Griggs in Solomon, Fiona Scott in Lindsay and Karen McNamara in Dobell, all of who held marginal seats.

That's no coincidence for the coalition, says Zareh Ghazarian, lecturer in politics at Monash University.

"There is an imbalance between men holding safe seats and women holding safe seats," he told AAP.

"Traditionally, the seats women have held have been in marginal areas."

Dr Ghazarian says female representation has long been a concern for the Liberal party but it's unlikely to ever adopt quotas for women like the Labor party has.

"I can't foresee the Liberal party will go down that path.

"What I can see is moves by Malcolm Turnbull, who is quite a socially progressive leader, to try and open up the party to incorporate more women."

Mr Turnbull last year urged his party to lift its game in attracting women into parliament, insisting the push needed to be led by state divisions.

The coalition's most senior woman, Julie Bishop, has previously rejected the idea of quotas, insisting merit should be the overriding consideration for preselection and election.